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lUCTIOMbyREV.WA.SELLEW 




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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



E. F. AND P. E. WARD 
DAUGHTERS ETHEL, BESSIE AND LOUISA 



Echoes From Bharatkhand 



By ERNEST F. WARD 



WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS BY 
MRS. PHEBE E. WARD 



Introduction by REV. WALTER A. SELLEW 



FREE METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE 

14 North May St., Chicago, Illinois 

1908 






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JUL 23 )908 
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COPY 'a. 



W. B. Rose, Agent 
Copyright 1908 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. Who abe the Hindus - 9 

II. Home and Village Life 15 

III. Some Native Traits 29 

IV. Hinduism — Caste 37 

V. Hinduism — Idolatry 45 

VI. Hinduism, Pantheism, Fate, Asceticism - 56 

VII. Mohammedanism 64 

VIII. A Trophy of Grace 77 

IX. Reminiscences of Open-air Mission Work 87 
X. Reminiscences — Continued - - - 101 
XI. Poverty of the People and Famine Rem- 
iniscences 112 

XII. Experiences in Famine Orphan Work - 122 

XIII. A Missionary Heritage in the Heart of 

India 132 

XIV. A Missionary Heritage — Continued - - 140 
XV. Census of the Old Wun District - - 149 

XVI. Miscellaneous 155 



INTRODUCTION 

Yes, another book on India. This marvelous 
country must of necessity continue to cause books 
to be produced so long as time shall last. The con- 
ditions that now exist in that strange land, and 
that have existed for so many centuries, are so pe- 
culiar and so strikingly unique, even to the trav- 
eler of long and varied experiences, that those who 
see them and know about them must continue to 
write about them. 

This is especially true regarding religion and 
religious conditions. India has a greater quantity 
of religion than any other country in the world; 
and, it may almost be said with truth, more than 
all other lands combined; and the religion found 
there and which exists in so many various forms, 
is so deep, so varied and so peculiar, that nearly all 
classes of people who have ever come in contact 
with it, are compelled to be interested in it. 

Furthermore, these types of religion materially 
affect every phase and condition of human exist- 
ence to such an extent that in very many cases they 
dominate all social and political life. The simple 
touching of a bit of food, a drinking vessel or a 
cooking utensil would be considered an offense 
meriting severe punishment, and the unlucky of- 
fender would be fortunate if he escaped a mobbing. 



4 INTRODUCTION 

The infinite variety of detail connected with all 
conditions of life there gives to any one who has 
anything to tell about India an excellent oppor- 
tunity and a full warrant to go ahead and tell it. 

The Rev. Ernest F. Ward and his wife, Phebe 
E. Ward, who have written this book, have been 
missionaries in India for more than twenty-five 
years. They are entirely competent to speak on 
the various phases of India life, as they are well 
acquainted with the customs, history and tradi- 
tions of that wonderful land. The writer of this 
introduction, when in India, traveled quite exten- 
sively through the central and northern parts of 
that country, and had the privilege of having Mr. 
Ward as a companion as well as a guide and in- 
terpreter during the greater part of that itinerary. 
He proved himself to be thoroughly familiar with 
all conditions met with during the trip, and made 
it both enjoyable and instructive. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ward have three daughters now 
attending the Seattle Seminary, at Seattle, Wash- 
ington, and in order that these young ladies may 
receive a suitable education, Mr. and Mrs. Ward 
are living on one-half salary, so that the other half 
may be applied toward the education of their 
daughters. By strict economy and by much self- 
denial they have been able so far to do this, and 
by the assistance of some friends as well as by the 
liberality of those in charge of the Seminary at 
Seattle, they have so far succeeded in their efforts 
in this direction. They are publishing this volume 
primarily to excite and extend the interest now ex- 






INTRODUCTION 5 

isting among the Christian people in the evangel- 
ization of that dark land to which so many years 
of their lives have been devoted, but the hope is 
also entertained that the sale of this book may be 
sufficiently large to produce some profit that may 
be applied toward the very desirable end of giving 
to these young ladies an education which cannot be 
obtained in that land where both love and duty 
now hold the parents. 

May the publication of this book accomplish all, 
and more, than the authors hope. 

Walter A. Sellew. 



PREFACE 

While aiming at a general plan in the order of 
the events and incidents related herein, our readers 
will doubtless discover that the arrangement is 
more or less crude. We have not designed in this 
little work to recount in logical and chronological 
order, the experiences and happenings of our mis- 
sionary life. These pages have been written while 
engaged in numerous missionary duties. Here are 
recorded mainly echoes from memory, pictures 
from daily life, and extracts from ramblings 
through many books on a vast theme. Other faults 
will also be noticed in wording and style. We be- 
speak therefore the kind indulgence of our readers 
for the seeming "shreds and patches" character of 
the book, as well as its other literary defects. 

We are aware that many will be familiar with 
some of the historical and geographical facts re- 
corded. But we trust our readers will understand 
that the main object of these repetitions is to give 
the needed background to our own sketches. 

Ernest F. Ward. 

Darwah, India, November Sixteenth, 1907. 



CHART SHOWING THE RELATION OF ENGLISH 
TO SANSCRIT 



English 


Sanscrit 


Where Found 


Mother 


matra 


Matt. 10:36 


Father 


pitra 


" 10: 36 


Brother 


bhratra 


" 10:21 


Daughter 


duhitra 


" 14:6 


Widow 


widhwa 


" 23:14 


Heart 


hriday 


" 11:29 


Sweat 


swed 


Luke 22 : 44 


Red, ruddy 


rudhir (blood) 


Heb. 11 : 28 


Serpent 


sarp 


Matt. 7 : 10 


Yoke 


yugum 


" 11:29 


Anger 


angar (coals of fire) 


John 21 : 9 


Wit 


widhya (learning) 


Acts 26 : 24 


West 


ast (setting of sun) 


Luke 4 : 40 


Name 


naman 


Matt. 1 : 25 


Young, youth 


yuva 


Acts 20 : 9 


Day 


diva 


" 9:24 


Night 


nisha 


" 9:24 


Mead (honey wine) 


madhu (honey) 


Matt. 3:4 


Star 


stara 


Rev. 9:1 


Path 


path (course of action) 


Acts 19 : 23 


Want, desire, wish 


wantch 


Mark 9: 35 


Truth 


satyarth 


John 18: 37 


Mind 


manas 


Rom. 7:25 


New 


nawa 


Eph. 4:24 


Fox, jackal 


sragal 


Matt. 8:20 


Servant 


sevante (they serve) 


Rev. 7:15 


Tree 


taru 


Luke 23: 31 


Corner 


kona 


Eph. 2:20 



CHAPTER I. 

WHO ARE THE HINDUS? 

"He hath made of one blood all nations" 

A little over one hundred years ago, when the 
learned men of England were searching into the 
ancient books of India, they made a great dis- 
covery. Digging down into the petrified remains 
of language, they unearthed facts which prove be- 
yond a doubt that these olive-brown Hindus are 
our near relation; nearer by far than the lighter 
colored Chinese, or even the Jews, Turks and Hun- 
garians. 

If we go back in time some 3,500 years, we shall 
most probably find the ancestors of the lighter col- 
ored Hindus, and the Persians, Greeks, Romans, 
Teutons, and Kelts, living together in the high- 
lands of Central Asia, perhaps in the valley of the 
Oxus and all speaking what is now known as the 
language of the Aryans. 

In process of time they separated, each family 
or tribe forming a new dialect of its own. No 
specimen of this common Aryan speech has come 
down to our day, but it is now largely believed 
that the ancient Sanscrit of India is the nearest in 
form to the original mother-tongue spoken by all 



10 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

the tribes. The discovery of this curious old lan- 
guage by European scholars brought to light addi- 
tional evidence of the unity of the human race. 

I have before me the New Testament translated 
into Sanscrit. This language has not been my spe- 
cial study; but being acquainted with some of the 
dialects of North India, I have no great difficulty, 
with the help of a concordance, in finding any sim- 
ple word I require. 

The reader will notice the chart given. Here 
is a brief list of words with the places where they 
are found in the Sanscrit Testament. Comparisons 
of this kind have established the fact that both 
languages sprang from the same original source; 
and in comparing Sanscrit with Greek and Latin, 
the similarity is still more striking. Especially 
note the word "duhitra" in the second column of 
the chart. It is derived from "duhan," "to milk 
a cow," and meant, originally, "she who milks the 
cow," or, "milkmaid." 

The ancient Aryans of India were a pastoral 
people as also tillers of the soil. Many of their 
prayers in the Rig Veda, supposed to have been 
written over 3,000 years ago, were for crops, cat- 
tle, sons and general mercies. They appear to have 
quite drifted away from Monotheism, and were still 
a bold and enterprising race. They drove back the 
aboriginal tribes and became the ruling people in 
the northern part of the peninsula. 

The ancient name for India was Bharat Khand. 
By this name it is still known among the Hindus, 
but with boundaries ill-defined. The former name 






WHO ARE THE HINDUS 11 

was given to it by the Greeks. Our knowledge of 
ancient India is very limited, although there are 
volumes of old religious and philosophical books, 
poems, legends, and so-called works of science. 
The Hindus were not historians and saw no neces- 
sity for recording plain facts for posterity. 

The ancient Greeks tell us that Alexander the 
Great invaded India about 300 B. C Porus, the 
Hindu monarch who resisted him, was at length 
wounded and captured. On being asked by his con- 
querors how he would be treated, he replied, "Like 
a king." This answer, it is said, so pleased Alex- 
ander the Great that he was restored to his king- 
dom, and the two thereafter remained fast friends. 

It is well known that the natives of India are 
not all of one stock. The ancient Aryans swept 
down through the passes of the Himalayas, and 
found the country already occupied by a dark-col- 
ored race, who had themselves most probably in 
turn invaded the territory from the North. These 
latter were not of the Negro type, but had straight 
black hair, dark eyes and broader noses than the 
Aryans and withal were a trifle shorter. The for- 
mer overcame and despised the latter, called them 
"goat-nosed," and treated them in much the same 
manner as the Anglo-Saxons were treated by the 
Normans. They in time, however, amalgamated 
with them, absorbed much of their native cults 
into the Aryan religion, at the same time dis- 
placing the former and also powerfully influencing 
the native tongues. Centuries rolled by; new dia- 
lects were formed with Sanscrit as a base; new 



12 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

communities and kingdoms sprang up; the caste 
system developed; and Hinduism, more nearly as 
it now is, took shape and spread over the empire. 

Something over 2,000 years ago, the ancient 
Hindus had established governments, lived in walled 
cities and towns, practised the arts and trades, 
and had a written language and literature; while 
the Keltic tribes of Britain worshiped the oak and 
mistletoe, practised barbarous rites, even sacri- 
ficing human beings like the wild Khonds of Orissa, 
they wandered about like savages, rudely clad in 
skins of beasts. The Anglo Saxons too, our more 
immediate ancestors who lived in the wilds of 
Germany, were not much in advance of the Kelts. 

During the centuries India has stood stock still, 
so to speak, until comparatively modern times, and 
in some respects has even retrograded. Britain, 
Gaul and Germany, and the other nations of Europe 
have steadily advanced. Why is this? Why have 
the nations of the West so far outstripped their 
oriental brothers in the race for civilization, in- 
telligence and virtue? Is it because we are nat- 
urally more righteous and clever than they? Is it 
because we from the start had more brain, and 
brawn and character? Is it because we were 
capable of a higher development? I think not, al- 
though some would have us believe so. 

The Hindus are not barbarians, much less sav- 
ages. They are heathen, it is true, but they have 
a civilization which has come down from ancient 
times, which in many features is not to be de- 
spised. I grant that it is fast becoming effete; but 



WHO ARE THE HINDUS 13 

these specimens of handiwork, material and intel- 
lectual, which remain, prove the natives of India 
to be a superior race, with the greatest possibili- 
ties; while it goes without saying that some of the 
noble minds of India of the present day, who are 
being developed under the new civilization which 
Christianity has brought in, are taking and will 
take a high place in the thought and influence that 
move the world. 

But why has this branch of the Aryan race 
lagged behind, and why have the occidental 
branches pushed ahead? In all probability we all 
started out from our ancient home with the same 
"capital stock." We all have had our national 
calamities and great evils to contend against. We 
all have had to combat the same retrograding tend- 
encies. 

There can be but one answer to these questions, 
and already it has been suggested. It was our 
good fortune to have been picked up and restored 
by the Good Samaritan, while the Indian races 
have been perishing by the roadside. It was our 
good fortune to be under the benign influence of 
Christianity for nearly two millenniums, while our 
India brothers have been toiling, broiling and 
sweating under terrible taskmasters for perhaps 
three! 

What these taskmasters are, and how they have 
enslaved and degraded the millions of this land, 
we shall endeavor to show in the following chap- 
ters. We shall picture some of the vices, customs 
and superstitions of the people. This is done in no 



14 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

spirit of contempt or ridicule for the natives of 
India, but rather with motives of pure benevolence 
and compassion. 



V 



CHAPTER II. 

HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 
"Because tliey were Ishmaelites." 

In the Orient, and especially in British India, 
the inhabitants dwell for the most part in towns. 
The traveler looks over the country in vain for 
farm houses and barns and fences, such as are 
found in Europe and America. Ninety per cent of 
the population in this land are cultivators, living 
largely in villages having under one thousand in- 
habitants each. Often the villages dot the land- 
scape in picturesque beauty. When the houses are 
thatched it is difficult at some seasons of the year 
to distinguish them at a great distance, as their 
walls of earth are of a color with the ground and 
are not high. Villages are often concealed also 
by the foliage of the tamarind, mango, neem and 
other common shade trees of India. In some parts 
the villages are as thickly located as Zulu kraals 
in Africa, or as the plantations in some of the 
states of America. There is a high hill near Don- 
gargarh, Central Province, from the top of which I 
have counted some thirty-four villages with their 
adjacent ponds. Towns and villages are often 
named for the Hindu gods; for example, thirty-five 

15 



16 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

are named for Ram and Berar; but more of ten they 
take the names of trees. In Wun District alone 
are no less than forty villages named after the 
sacred peepul, which is one in every thirty. In 
former times most towns were surrounded by 
walls, and in the center there was a fort often 
having underground rooms to hide in. Since the 
peaceful period began, the result of British rule in 
India, these defenses have largely disappeared. 
Here and there, however, may be seen old crum- 
bling remains of rude fortifications, often covered 
with grass, shrubbery and trees. Considerable of 
the ancient walls of larger towns, such as Burhan- 
pur, Ellichpur and Amraoti, which were built more 
substantially of stone, are yet standing. That of 
the first named especially, is in a good state of 
preservation, with its time-stained bastions, towers 
and perforated breastworks. Old gates of some of 
the towns are studded with immense iron spikes 
to resist the butting of war elephants. 

The great majority of the buildings in the 
larger cities and towns are built of stone, brick or 
adobe, with tiled roofs. In the villages, they are 
very largely constructed of "wattle and daub." The 
average hut of this kind is eight by ten feet in size 
and five feet high at the eaves. First a frame of 
wooden poles is erected, then on all sides bamboo 
wattles or hurdles of small sticks are tied securely, 
and plastered on both sides with clay. When dry, 
the walls and ground enclosed thereby are smeared 
with cow dung. This last process stops up all the 
cracks and prevents the walls, for a time at least, 



HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 17 

from harboring fleas, bugs and scorpions. The roof 
is either of grass or tile. If of the former, it fur- 
nishes a good protection against both heat and 
rain, but many times is a hiding place for snakes, 
lizards, scorpions and other vermin. 

One of the first missionaries to Eliichpur heard 
an alarm during the night from a servant's house 
on the compound. He immediately went out with 
a gun and shot a cobra six feet long, coiled up in 
the thatch. It was just ready to drop on some 
one's bed. Brick and adobe houses are larger, more 
permanent, and often two or more stories in height. 
In all native houses of whatever size or material 
the rooms are generally small, the ceilings low and 
windows scarce. 

There are no chimneys to the fireplaces in these 
houses, as extra vents would be considered super- 
fluous. The smoke does not seem to annoy the na- 
tives seriously, and they appear to be satisfied with 
their present arrangements for cooking and heat- 
ing. At Bhaisdehi, Central Province, a native saw 
a missionary having a chimney built to his cook- 
house, and asked what it was for. "To let the 
smoke out," answered the latter. "But," replied 
the former, "haven't you got the doors and win- 
dows?" 

We have had considerable experience with na- 
tive houses, having lived in eight or ten during our 
pilgrimage in the land. One may be made fairly 
comfortable (though not equal to a bungalow) by 
enlarging the rooms, elevating the roof and mul- 
tiplying the windows. Nowadays corrugated iron 



18 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

for roofing is coming largely into use, and there 
is scarcely a village in this vicinity of any size 
which has not one or more buildings with iron roof- 
ing. If this is true all over the East — and there 
are over 500,000 villages in India alone — it may ac- 
count in some measure for "billion dollar" iron 
trusts. Still for decades to come, on account of 
the poverty of the people, grass must continue to 
cover the huts of millions. 

While journeying through Central India we 
have many times lodged and found a comfortable 
shelter in the huts of friendly natives, cooked our 
food in their humble fireplaces and slept soundly 
on their beds. Sometimes not so soundly. Once 
while on a missionary tour I was entertained at 
the house of a Gond patel near a jungle. In the 
same room where I slept (?) on a cot (the room 
was only twelve feet square) were one other man, 
one boy, one cow, four calves and a dog. This was in 
the month of February, at the beginning of the hot 
season, and there was a fire burning most of the 
night in the middle of the room on the floor. I sur- 
vived the ordeal in spite of fleas, etc., slept some, 
and thanked my host on leaving. He had really 
denied himself in supplying my needs. 

Bungalow is the name given to the large, airy 
houses occupied by Europeans. They are com- 
monly one story, but have high roofs, large win- 
dows and doors, and are either thatched or tiled. 
Moreover they are built up from the ground, have 
verandas to protect the walls from the heat of the 
sun, and are ordinarily supplied with swinging 



HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 19 

fans. We have built and occupied several bunga- 
lows since coming to India. Buildings of this kind 
are indispensable to the comfort of most Europeans 
and Americans in this country — missionaries not 
excepted. Their occupants are usually less liable 
to take malarial fevers and are better prepared to 
endure the heat. They are not always secure 
against invasion of snakes, rats and other vermin. 
In our bungalow at Gondia, a venomous serpent 
crawled up and dropped from a curtain rod above 
the door. While at Wun in the space of six 
months we killed over one hundred scorpions, sev- 
eral rats, and a lizard two feet long, although the 
bungalow in which they were found was con- 
structed of stone walls, stone floors and a corru- 
gated iron roof. - 

Houses in Indian towns and villages are com- 
monly huddled together promiscuously, little at- 
tention being paid to harmony of arrangement. 
Among some of the castes, three or more families 
live in one house. Thus the population is con- 
densed. Darwah, for example, where we now live, 
is a place of about 6,000 souls, all crowded into 
an area of one-fourth square mile. Such a town 
in America would occupy from four to eight times 
this space. The natives are careless about building 
their houses in a straight line or even parallel with 
their neighbors. They seem rather to avoid it. As 
a result, streets and lanes are for the most part 
very crooked. 

As one enters an Indian village he is very likely 
to be greeted with gruesome sights, discordant 



20 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

sounds and unpleasant smells; and if a stranger 
withal, the uncanny bazaar dogs may beset you. 
There is no danger, though these things strike you 
repulsively at first; and if you are a missionary, 
you soon learn to accommodate your nerves and 
senses to them for the sake of the people. These 
things are not uninteresting when you come to 
know the people; and their souls are precious. In 
the streets you meet all sorts of people, some of 
whom give you polite, oriental salutations, while 
others do not appear so friendly. Street quarrels 
are much in evidence in Indian towns. Given, a 
hundred families living in close proximity, the 
children mostly on the streets, the women ignorant 
and often idle, together with a heathen atmosphere, 
and the result can readily be imagined. 

The zenana system for the seclusion of women 
prevails in North India, but not so extensively in 
Central India where we are. Here the females 
of the lower classes and of most of the middle and 
upper, are allowed to go abroad. 

In many villages may be seen the wide-spread- 
ing banyan or glossy peepul, beneath the cooling 
shade of which the people come to lounge. Here 
stands the local god. I said stands, but I should 
have said sits, for most everybody and everything 
in India sits down. Writers, weavers, carpenters, 
smiths, baniyas, barbers, butchers, all take to 
"mother earth" if they can when plying their 
trades. There is a notorious dislike to active occu- 
pations among the Brahmins and adjacent castes, 
who aim to secure sedentary employment if pos- 



HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 21 

sible. Some years ago a railroad company in Cen- 
tral India, wanting about 200 station agents, 
clerks, etc., advertised for them. In a comparative- 
ly short time the company received 25,000 applica- 
tions, mostly from unemployed men of those castes. 

Near the center of every village, there is often 
seen a shed-like building called a "chowree," which 
answers for a town-hall. Hear the headman holds 
his court, and respectable travelers are also some- 
times lodged. It is likewise the resort where caste- 
men meet to decide how big a fine (perhaps in the 
shape of a fat feast including liquor) some poor 
fellow who accidentally broke caste, will have to 
pay. Caste gatherings of this kind are called 
"panchayats," and their deliberations are not ac- 
cording to Cushing's Manual. The usual mode is 
for all to talk at once and the fellow who talks 
the loudest has the floor. 

Land is held largely by leasehold in India, the 
government being considered the real owner. The 
great mass of the cultivators are tenants. The he- 
reditary tax-collector of the village and surround- 
ing fields is usually the headman called "patel" in 
Central India. He is responsible to the govern- 
ment for the taxes or "land rent," as it is called, 
and the general good order of the community. He 
occasionally decides petty cases. His pay often 
amounts to one-third of the sum collected. If land 
is to be bought or rented, he is the one to be con- 
sulted. There is also in every village an account- 
ant who makes out legal papers, receipts, etc., and 
is frequently the only person there able to read 



22 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

or write. After papers have been drawn up they 
must be attested. When we bought land in the 
Bhandara District, the owner and two witnesses 
attested the deed by stamping the record with 
their thumbs dipped in lamp black. This is a very 
ancient, oriental custom. Tamerlane used to stamp 
his grants, so it is said, with his whole hand 
dipped in blood. Besides the two officers of the 
village mentioned above, there are seven other 
persons who draw an allowance from the local 
taxes. They are the priest, astrologer, barber, 
watchman, carpenter, smith, scavenger. The watch- 
man goes about the streets at dead of night and 
warns the inhabitants of thieves by crying out at 
the top of his voice, "Keep awake," "Beware," and 
"Look sharp." The astrologer points out the lucky 
days for weddings, journeys, sowing, reaping, and 
undertakings generally. He is believed to be es- 
sential to the prosperity of the village. 

One of the best places to study native life is 
about the village well or tank, where, in the early 
morning, a motley throng is gathered. Most of the 
crowd, largely females, are after their daily supply 
of water. Some are bathing, some are beating their 
wet clothes on the rocks, some are scouring their 
brass utensils, while others are scouring out their 
mouths. This last operation is often very thor- 
ough, charcoal and water being used in abundance. 
Two fingers are thrust down the throat to induce 
coughing. These means, accompanied by a great 
deal of hawking and spitting, are believed by many 
not only to effectually purify the mouth, but to 



HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 23 

dislodge the devils which may have gone down 
during the night! 

In most of the empire except Bengal, the men 
among the Hindus wear usually a white or red tur- 
ban of muslin bound about the head ; that is to say, 
when they go out. Often at home it is kept on, ex- 
cept at meal time and during the hours of rest. 
As the head is kept shaved, it is not so uncomfort- 
able as many suppose, and it is needed as a double 
protection both from heat and cold. The different 
castes, or groups of castes, have their character- 
istic turbans. The Marathi Brahmins, for example, 
wear a red one bordered with gold which resembles 
the wing of a bird sticking up. A few turbans re- 
semble a flaring bowl, some a mushroom, and 
others a cabbage head; while the Parsee hats of 
Bombay have been likened to the cone and crater 
of Vesuvius. Mohammedans who have been to 
Mecca wear a green turban. Reddish buff is the 
sacred color of the Hindu sadhus. The ordinary 
turban is made of from three to five yards of cloth, 
but I have seen them with twenty. The Deccani 
Brahmin's turban when unfurled reveals a strip of 
muslin thirty yards long. The latter is not full 
width or it would be unbearable. 

The loin cloth is generally three to five yards 
long. Most Hindus wear cotton jackets or coats 
which are sometimes tied with a string on the 
right side, while the coats of the Mohammedans, 
if tied, are tied on the left. The women for the 
most part wear eight or nine yards of cotton cloth 
of various colors (full width) neatly bound around 



24 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

the body from head to foot. A string is sometimes 
tied about the waist to keep the garment in place; 
and there are no buttons, hooks, buckles or pins 
in the whole garment, nor a stitch of thread. In 
our part of Central Province the yeomen usually 
wear in addition to the above, a small, short- 
sleeved jacket or bodice, but in the East the ma- 
jority go without. Taking the whole of Central 
India, the average yearly clothing outfit of a man 
or woman of the agricultural classes is twelve 
yards of cotton cloth. 

Like all heathen, the natives of India are pas- 
sionately fond of ornaments. They literally load 
themselves down with silver, brass, copper, pewter, 
iron and glass. Ornaments are worn on the head, 
in the ears and nose, round the neck, arms, fingers, 
waist, legs, feet and toes. Our eldest child had a 
nurse, each of whose ears was punched with nine 
large holes, each one carrying a large silver ring. 
It is very common to see women with eight or ten 
bracelets on each arm; and there are some castes 
who load their arms nearly to their shoulders. 
Once, when traveling in the hills, my wife counted 
on one woman 216 ornaments distributed as fol- 
lows: One hundred ten strings of beads, one neck- 
lace of pewter, fifty-nine brass finger rings, thirty- 
two bracelets of metal and lacquer and fourteen 
anklets of brass. 

It is not our purpose to give a comprehensive 
view of the home life, manners and customs of the 
people of India. We shall seek rather to interest 



HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 25 

our readers by relating things, for the most part, 
which have come under our own observation. 

These oriental folks have many customs which 
are quite unlike and even opposite to ours. For 
example: People in America dress up when they 
are to dine, whereas most of the Hindus — the men 
at least — undress, and keep nothing on but a loin 
cloth. In America, when entering a house, they 
take off their hats and keep their shoes on; here, 
they do just the contrary. There they serve the 
ladies first; here in India the women wait till the 
men and boys are fed. Women there gather their 
dresses behind; here the gathers are all in front. 
The tailor there pushes the needle toward himself; 
here he shoves it directly away. The carpenter 
pulls his saw forcibly one way, but pushes it gen- 
tly the other. A cow in America is always milked 
on the right side ; here, always on the left. The same 
noise that is made there to urge a horse to go, is 
made here to cause him to stop. Horses and cattle 
in India are very commonly stabled in the front 
yard instead of in the back, as in America. There, 
to "whitewash" means to give a bad man a good 
name; here it means to give a good man a bad one. 
There they say a refractory boy should have his 
will broken; here they say his head. In Hindustani 
they read from right to left, and the writer of a 
letter signs his name at the top. In most Indian 
languages they have post-positions instead of prep- 
ositions. Hence it is "table on" and "man by," in- 
stead of "on the table" and "by the man." In the 
Marathi account of the prodigal son, it reads, 



26 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

"ring in his finger," and "shoes in his feet," and 
in Gen. 8:8, it reads, "back of the ground," instead 
of "face," etc. Then in this odd language we read 
"foot finger" for toe and "hand stocking" for glove, 
while hub is a "wheel's-pumpkin" and an anchor is 
a "ship's plow." 

When we first came to India we were surprised 
to discover that the cooks and dress-makers who 
worked for Europeans were men, while the hod- 
carriers were women. Such are their ideas of 
propriety in this strange land. In America a 
noisy school would not be tolerated; here, the more 
noise they make over their books in village schools, 
the more studious they are thought to be. Stu- 
dents chant the poetry in their readers, as well as 
the numerical tables. 

The Hindus generally are very fond of music. 
Their scale differs from ours and their ideas of 
music otherwise, are quite materially unlike ours. 
The drum seems to be the chief instrument in their 
orchestras, and there is a great variety of them. 
Talking with a young rajah one time on the sub- 
ject of "progress," he remarked to me that "the 
English were ahead in most everything," but that 
we must concede that the natives of India were 
ahead of us in music. 

The above are some of the many things which 
differentiate these Hindu-Aryans from their broth- 
ers in the Occident. However, I forbear making 
further comparisons lest I seem invidious. Too 
many Europeans are disposed to look derisively 
upon the native manners and customs in this land, 



HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 27 

and repudiate them wholesale. But this is not the 
habit of the missionaries. True missionaries seek 
to discover and commend all that is good, and con- 
demn only that which is positively wrong. 

As compared with other non-Christian people, 
the Hindus in the matter of their personal habits 
are very praiseworthy. Their garments, when the 
body is properly concealed, are quite well adapted, 
both to the climate and to their means. The diet 
of the better classes among the Hindus, except the 
excessive amount of condiments, is not distasteful, 
and I dare say, quite as healthful for a hot climate,, 
if not more, as that of those Europeans who eat 
daily many courses of meat and top off their din- 
ners with wine. They are much given to bath- 
ing. (The Brahmins bathe the entire body daily 
as a religious duty.) They wash their clothes at 
short intervals; shave, pare their nails and scour 
their teeth frequently. 

I have traveled in company with hundreds of 
Hindus and other natives by rail, boat, tonga and 
other ways, as well as with other nationalities, 
and do not hesitate to declare that the natives of 
India generally, for traveling companions, compare 
most favorably from a hygienic standpoint, with 
the laboring classes in the Occident. They are, in 
fact, freer from unpleasant odors than those semi- 
pauper emigrants who are shipped from Europe to 
America. 

It is all important that missionaries learn to 
adapt themselves so far as practicable to the harm- 
less social customs, etiquette and hospitable ideas 



28 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

of the natives. If they are indifferent to these mat- 
ters there is danger of giving needless offense. In 
calling at Hindu houses for example, as there are 
no chairs, the missionary should learn to take 
kindly to the floor, and not keep his friends stand- 
ing, as native decorum forbids their sitting down 
first. If it is a house of rank, or if there are re- 
ligious restrictions, he should leave his shoes at 
the door unless excused therefrom. 

If he asks a high-caste man for water, he should 
not seize the "lota" or cup from his hands, but 
improvise a cup with his own hands and drink 
therefrom, while the former pours the water in. 
He should never intrude on a native at meal time, 
unless invited, nor trespass on the precincts of his 
fireplace when the latter is cooking. Finally, if 
his native friend brings food cooked in native style 
and served on leaves or brass platters, he should 
try to eat it with good grace a-la-orient, remember- 
ing that the Hindus, too, are sons of Japheth, and 
the cleanest heathen on the face of the earth! 




DBINKING FKOM A "BEESTIE," OR WATER CARRIER 



CHAPTER III. 



SOME NATIVE TRAITS 



"For there is no difference hetiveen the Jeio and 
the Greek." 

There is a proverb in India — "Hurry makes bad 
curry" — the moral of which is over much admired 
and exemplified by the natives. To illustrate: 
Suppose you are in urgent need of a box, or you 
want a door hung. You send for a carpenter to 
"come early the next morning and do the work at 
once." Being duly called he agrees to come. Morn- 
ing arrives. You look anxiously for your man. 
Along about ten or eleven o'clock he appears, not 
to do the work, but to look it over. Then he goes 
away and the next day brings another fellow with 
him. The two sit down, take a smoke, talk the 
matter over with you. Then terms are satis- 
factorily arranged. After this "ventilation" he 
agrees to be on hand promptly, and you are in- 
spired with hope. But hold on! Next day is a 
holiday, so your workman begs to delay the job 
one day longer. On the third or fourth day after 
engaging him, he turns up late in the morning with 
his kit of primitive tools. Now you think, "This is 
business, and the work will soon be done." But 

29 



30 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

alas, it is only the beginning ! If a board is wanted, 
instead of sawing it out lengthwise from a timber, 
he chips away the timber laterally with an adz, 
and leaves the board. If there is planing to be 
done, another man must be called to help shove 
the plane the other way. If a hole is to be bored, 
the carpenter himself holds the drill, but some one 
else must pull the string. Then if any work is to 
be plumbed with a cord and ball, it takes two and 
sometimes three men to do it. All this, together 
with the workman's natural lethargy, plus his ap 
parent indifference as to when the work will be 
finished, and you have a fair sample of some 
oriental traits which are most trying to occidental 
patience. 

In some such way as the above our grace is fre- 
quently put to a test in India. We are sometimes 
strongly tempted to snatch up the tools and as- 
tonish the natives by showing them how to work. 
The average native, however, has no enthusiasm on 
that line. It is neither in his bones, his creed or his 
conscience. One writer has said, "There's no use 
in trying to hustle the East." Whether this is a 
wise resolution or not, I shall not now discuss. But 
so far as our modern Bharat Khandite is con- 
cerned, whatever his ancestors may have been, it 
seems at present clear that he won't be expeditious 
if he could, and he cannot if he would, and to him 
there's no virtue in it if he should. 

Haggling over the price of goods is the common 
practise in India. It is customary to charge, to 
begin with, from twenty-five to fifty per cent more 




MUSSULMAN FAKIR 



SOME NATIVE TRAITS 31 

than the proper price, and then they expect you to 
"beat them down." This is not all. The shop- 
keepers have false weights and measures to use on 
occasions, adulterate flour, ghee, oil, etc., and pass 
bogus coin. The "baniya" (shopkeeper) is the 
most wholly consecrated man in the world, i. e., 
to get rich. He bows down and worships his pile 
of rupees and account books like any other idol 
one day in the year. It is a common saying that 
"He who is sharper than the baniya is mad." Many 
of them try to atone for their knavery by feeding 
sugar to the ants; and in Bombay many baniyas 
who belong to the Jain sect, support a hospital for 
sick cows, monkeys, cats, mice, etc. One ward is 
said to contain "inhabited" beds whereon fakirs 
are hired by wealthy baniyas to sleep and thus re- 
gale the bugs upon their blood! 

Conscience as regards truth-telling is a com- 
modity which needs to be largely imported into 
British India, as the original supply seems well 
nigh exhausted. It has been said that the prevail- 
ing evil trait of the oriental races is deception, 
while the occidentals are pugnacious. Be that as 
it may, one thing is certain, the great majority in 
India seem to act on the principle that honesty is 
not the best policy. We had an old man for cook 
when we first came to India who knew a little 
English. He did most of our buying and often 
professed to be making fine bargains for us. He 
used to put on a most indignant air when the 
trickery of other natives we dealt with was 
brought to light. Then when we ventured to do 



32 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

our own trading, he would sometimes confidentially 
say, "They be all cheating to master, they be all 
great rogues, sir." But in due time his own trick- 
ery was discovered and it turned out that he him- 
self was the biggest rogue of the whole lot. 

It is often the custom in India to have the cow 
which supplies you with milk brought to your 
door; and to insure the genuine article, she is 
milked in your presence. At one of our mission 
stations it so happened we bought milk of a woman 
who frequently diluted it by means of a bottle of 
water, artfully concealed in the folds of her dress. 
We wondered how it could be, seeing she milked 
her buffalo in front of the bungalow daily. But 
she was very sharp and watched her chance, and 
the moment no one was looking, she quickly 
dumped the water into the milk. At last her dodge 
was discovered by a native Christian, who, spying 
her through the crack of a door, ran out and seized 
the bottle while she was in the very act. Then she 
fell down at our feet, urging that this was only the 
first time, and begged vehemently to be excused 
for her "fault," promising never to do so again, 
and positively to give us good milk in the future. 
But having been long enough in the country to 
learn the usual palaver under such circumstances, 
we thought best to dismiss her at once. 

Indian servants as a rule have to be watched. 
Almost every householder carries a bunch of keys. 
Nearly all the stealing is of a petty kind, con- 
sisting of food, fuel, oil, and such small articles 



SOME NATIVE TRAITS 33 

as could be readily utilized or disposed of in the 
bazaars. 

It is a common practise among army officers to 
have their horses fed in their presence, lest the 
native grooms steal the grain for themselves. 

While 'living in Nandgaon State, a woman em- 
ployed in our cook house, stole a large quantity of 
rice and hid it under a stone near the fire. She 
professed innocence; but after a thorough search 
was made, and the grain discovered, she threw up 
her hands and said, "Alas, what can I say! It is 
my fate! It is my fate!" 

This way of accounting for events is universal 
in the East, and the saying, "Who can rub out 
what fate has written?" is in most everybody's 
mouth. Indeed, the general belief in Fatalism 
operates as a sort of an opiate both to the Hindu 
and the Mohammedan conscience. 

Missionaries in most parts of India, howsoever 
economical otherwise, are obliged to keep a cook, 
a washerwoman and a sweeper, with or without a 
recommend. In a large number of places a water- 
carrier or "beestie" is also required. This last 
named servant, if a Moslem, generally brings your 
water in a leather bag (the bottle of Scripture), 
and is a most important man; in fact, he is indis- 
pensable in many places, for in the towns and vil- 
lages where wells are few, springs unknown, and 
there are no water pipes or mains, it is usually out 
of the question for you to lug your own supply. 
The well or tank on which you depend may be a 



34 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

mile distant, and a water supply you must have 
in the tropics, clean, cold and constant. 

Beestie is a Hindustani word meaning, literal- 
ly, "the heavenly one." In a dry and thirsty land, 
the regular advents of this needful messenger are 
not unlike angel visits. But remember we are in 
India still, and in justice to truth it is fair to 
state that these calls are not always such heavenly 
reminders. In fact, these mundane angels, like 
other earthly creatures, sometimes cheat. To ex- 
plain: Your beestie is supposed to take his sup- 
ply from the best well in town. You pay him extra 
perhaps for so doing, and he is ready to make his 
affidavit that he actually does, swearing by the 
Koran or the Kaaba stone, or if a Hindu, by the 
tail of the sacred cow. But alas, in point of fact, 
you find by investigation that he frequently fills 
it at the nearest, and perchance fever-infected 
well; and you are the sufferer, while he is the 
gainer. This is not all; they often bring very un- 
wholesome water for other people in their old goat- 
skin bottles which are sometimes filthy on the in- 
side. These receptacles running foul, they are not 
careful to scour them out before bringing your sup- 
ply. Such is life in modern Bharat Khand! 

Nevertheless the natives of this land are natur- 
ally patient and forbearing, more so perhaps than 
any other people; and this trait to my mind should 
count as a redeeming feature in their character. 
Indeed, their native gentleness and politeness 
ought to go a long way; not of course to atone for 
their many defects, but toward averaging up their 




A HINDU MILKMAID WITH EARTHEN POTS AND BRASS LOTA 
IN HER HAND 



SOME NATIVE TRAITS 35 

character as compared with Europeans generally. 
The natives of India — both Hindus and Mussal- 
mans — compare favorably in moral character with 
those nations who have been for centuries under 
the blighting influences of Popery. Such violent 
crimes which are so common among the criminal 
classes in European and American cities are un- 
common in India. The inhabitants of this land, as 
a whole, are a peaceful race, and not over difficult 
to govern. While it is true that deception and 
dishonesty are so prevalent everywhere, I have met 
some who, despite the corrupt teachings of the 
Shasters and the Koran, have a high sense of 
honor. 

The greatest virtue in the Hindu mind is to be 
unmoved under provocation, while in the West 
honesty is perhaps considered the paramount vir- 
tue. We must not forget that every principle of 
sin in the heart is equally vile in the sight of God; 
and His word declares that "Whosoever shall 
keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he 
is guilty of all." 

A stream cannot rise higher than its source. 
Men do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
thistles. The moral standard prevalent among the 
people of any nation cannot rise higher than that 
of the religious books in which they believe. The 
Nanava Dharm Shaster of the Hindus teaches that 
there are "five sinless lies" which a man of any of 
the three higher castes may tell. They are, first, 
to women; second, in joking; third, in the inter- 
ests of marriage; fourth, to earn his livelihood 



36 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

when in difficulty, and fifth, to save the lives of 
Brahmins and cows. In the Koran also (28th 
Sipara) the message which came to Mohammed 
reads, "God hath allowed you the dissolution of 
your oaths." If according to the Tamil proverb — 
"One grain of rice is sufficient to test a whole pot 
full," then these books are weighed and found 
wanting. But not only one grain, but the whole 
pot, and many pots have been analyzed and tried, 
and found full of the deadliest poison! May God 
hasten the day when floods from His Revealed 
Word shall wash away error and darkness from the 
land, and purify the heart and the conscience of 
the nation! 



CHAPTER IV. 

HINDUISM — CASTE 

"And there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men 
which had the mark of the oeast. ,i 

A foreigner visiting India for the first time 
will be struck with the unsightly caste marks 
which so commonly disfigure the faces and bodies 
of many of the Hindus. But on further acquaint- 
ance with the people, he will soon come to know 
that the whole community, from top to bottom, is 
more or less honey-combed with a system peculiar 
to the country, and having its counterpart in some 
of the tyrannical features of trades unions. 

According to the Hindu Shasters, the Brahmins 
or priests sprang from the mouth of Brahma, the 
Kshatriyas, or warriors from his arms, the Vais- 
yas, or traders, from his thighs, and the Sudras, 
or servile class, from his feet. Caste is an old in 
stitution. Even in Manu's time (the Hindu Moses 
who wrote perhaps 500 B. C.) there were one hun- 
dred different castes. Now castes are enumerated 
by the thousand. Caste feeling pervades the at- 
mosphere of this land, from shore to shore, and 
like the virus of the deadly cobra, permeates all 
the veins and arteries of society. Even Moham- 

37 



38 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

medans and the aboriginal tribes have been af- 
fected by it, and there are not wanting nominal 
Christians who proudly dote on their high caste 
origin. 

Caste consists of social clans and guilds that 
enact arbitrary laws about eating, drinking, mar- 
riage, associating with, or even touching the per- 
son or property of those lower than one's self. 
The violation of these rules brings down heavy 
fines and penalties upon the delinquent, who in 
the meantime is ceremonially unclean until the 
claim is met and the penances performed. The 
average Hindu also believes that the keeping of his 
caste inviolate, is one of the chief things in relig- 
ion, and has something to do with his fate here- 
after. 

I once was on a tour through North Berar, 
traveling in an ox-cart. A clever looking native 
walking behind, I fell in conversation with him, 
and after a while asked him to get up and ride. Im- 
mediately the cart stopped and my driver, who 
was of a higher caste than the other fellow, threat- 
ened to leave me in the lurch if I allowed the 
lower caste man to sit in the cart. The latter took 
no offense, said nothing and followed on as if noth- 
ing had happened. While living at Gondia, Cen- 
tral Province, we were obliged to bring water from 
a long distance because the public well near by, 
used by men of the farmer caste, was forbidden to 
our Christian boys who brought our supply. 

In Burhanpur one of our servants used to go 
a quarter of a mile to bring water for herself, 






HINDUISM— CASTE 39 

rather than take it from our faucet touched by a 
low caste man, though the source of supply was 
the same. Another servant would not lift a bed, 
or a chair, or even a mat with his inferior neigh- 
bor at the other end. One would bring eggs for 
us from the market, but would not touch fowls; 
while another would not touch either. Still an- 
other would not eat any of our food wet, but was 
quite ready to eat it dry before it was cooked. A 
man we tried to hire was willing to do all we re- 
quired of him, but could not bring our drinking 
water. He could water the garden, bring water 
to wash and bathe, but not to drink; while an- 
other could bring the latter, but could not touch 
the earthen vessels in which it was kept. 

I have unwittingly defiled the food of natives 
by touching some of their cooking utensils, in 
which event they were obliged to throw their food 
away. While building a bungalow, our carpenters 
and masons instead of drinking the clean water 
from our well close at hand, used to send off and 
bring unwholesome water from a distant stream. 
On another building job we had, four castes of 
workmen were employed. These gave us much 
trouble in adjusting the water question, as neither 
caste would drink from the hands of the others 
and arrangements had to be made in order to keep 
them on the work. By chance my wife touched 
the outside of one of their tin buckets with the 
end of her umbrella and the contents had to be 
thrown away. In like manner our eldest daughter, 
when a child, was one day playing top near a ser- 



40 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

vant's house, when the top rolled around and bare- 
ly touched an earthen jar. The latter was at once 
condemned as unfit for further use. 

The natives of India generally drink out of a 
brass pot called a "lota." To touch the lota of a 
man of a higher caste is considered most reprehen- 
sible, and if done mischievously, causing the owner 
to break his caste, is a violation of the Criminal 
Code of British India. Some Hindus in drinking 
water from a lota, do not allow their lips to touch 
the vessel, but hold it above, and skilfully let a 
stream fall into the open mouth. Others make a 
receptacle with one hand in front of the mouth, 
and drink from that, while the majority drink as 
we do. When we, or persons of inferior caste, ask 
water from high caste natives, they sometimes con- 
descend to pour the same into our hands made into 
a trough to drink from. This contrivance we never 
dislike if the water does not run down our neck 
and sleeves. 

No doubt many natives in one way or another 
frequently break their caste; but dire necessity has 
taught them how to evade the penalties. The 
whole system in fact, encourages hypocrisy. We 
have had wealthy Mohammedans drink water from 
our hands inside our bungalow, who did not dare 
to do so outside. Multitudes of natives admit that 
the system is wrong, but at the same time are too 
cowardly to ratify it openly in a practical way. 
Some months ago, while walking along the road to 
a village in this taluk, I happened to step over a 
small bundle tied up in a handkerchief. Thinking 



HINDUISM— 'CASTE 41 

it to be the food some caste-keeping native dropped 
from his cart, I passed on without touching it. In 
a short time the owner coming back in his search 
for the missing property, said it was his lunch. 
He begged me humbly to let him know whether I 
had touched it or not. I assured him I had not, 
but at the same time gave him a severe reproof on 
the sin of keeping caste. He hung his head in 
shame, acknowledged that all I said was true, but 
confessed he was afraid of his caste men. Fearing 
lest I should be offended, he sought to appease me 
by inviting me to get up in his cart and ride. 

There are many other illustrations of the va- 
garies of caste which have come under our observa- 
tion or into our experience. During the famine of 
1897, many of the orphan children we first gath- 
ered in, died, and had to be speedily interred. Hav- 
ing eaten our food the corpses were reckoned as 
defiled, and as we kept servants who would not 
touch the dead bodies of such children, except the 
scavengers, I preferred to convey them in my own 
arms, rather than let that class of people do the 
work. After a while, some children we took in 
became strong enough to help their fellows, but in 
the meantime I carried fifty or sixty in the above 
way to the burial ground, as not one of their own 
class would volunteer or could be hired to assist. 

The outcome of caste is not simply a lot of in- 
conveniences to us missionaries or to the natives 
themselves. This terrible system raises up social 
barriers between the classes, dries up the milk of 
human kindness, destroys the brotherhood of man 



42 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

and blocks the moral, social and intellectual prog- 
ress of the nation. If a man becomes a Christian, 
he is boycotted in trade, ostracized from his caste 
people, and if a Brahmin, treated as a dead man 
by his relatives. If caste could have its way, he 
would thereafter be subjected to perpetual torture, 
or if that were impossible, doomed to walk the 
earth a friendless, penniless vagabond. 

A woman lay all day in the agonies of death 
by the roadside in an Indian village, but no one 
offered her even a cup of cold water, because, as 
they said, "she belongs to another caste." Where 
we were camping in the Betul District of Central 
Provinces, a poor, blind Hindu woman of the 
blacksmith caste, afflicted with the leprosy, crawled 
out of her hut toward a river where she wanted to 
bathe and die. She was weak and unable to reach 
it and in danger of being attacked by wild ani- 
mals at night. As none of her village people would 
help her, a missionary lady and myself carried her 
back on a sheet. Next day during her dying hours, 
her neighbors, instead of giving her comfort and 
assistance, only yelled out abuse at her for bring- 
ing, as they said, a curse on their village. 

Most missionaries preach against caste as an 
abomination in the sight of God, a tyrannical bur- 
den on the people and a bar to their moral, spirit 
ual and social advancement. I have met govern- 
ment officers who defended it as a good institution. 
Sir Lepel Griffin, who is well known as unfriendly 
to missions, says in the Asiatic Quarterly Review, 
"If England continues to rule with justice, modera- 



HINDUISM— CASTE 43 

tion and impartiality, with clean hands and an 
honest and eager desire to work for the good of 
the people, there is no fear that the Hindus will 
ever turn against her. And the explanation of 
this security is chiefly to be found in caste, which, 
by depriving the people of ambition, has left each 
man content with his position in life. The late 
American Minister told us that one of the advan- 
tages of democracy was that it enabled a man to 
climb from a coal pit to the highest position for 
which he was fitted. But in India, fortunately for 
society and the government, the collier would have 
no inclination to climb at all. Every occupation, 
even thieving, is hereditary; and the rules of caste 
ordinarily compel a man to follow the occupation 
of his forefathers, except where English influence 
and education have displaced the conservative tra- 
dition in favor of a more democratic view of the 
rights of humanity. 

"The English embroidery is only upon the hem 
of the mysterious garment of Indian life, and the 
great mass of the people are unaffected by the strug- 
gles of the young men of our colleges to obtain a 
share in the offices at the disposal of the govern- 
ment. Even with these, the spirit of caste is still 
strong, and a wise policy would encourage and not 
stifle it" 

It is probable that this expresses the view of 
not a few. It is very evident that the writer is no 
real friend to the people of India, and at the same 
time an enemy to true Christianity. We are 
friends to the British government, and admit that 



44 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

it is far superior in its administration, to all others 
which have preceded it in India; but we are also 
friends to the highest welfare of the natives, and 
are alive to the terrible evils of caste. Hence we 
must confess that we would gladly see the whole 
system annihilated, even if it involved the wiping 
out of the present government. 

Strenuous efforts have been put forth by a few 
educated Hindus in the past few years to create 
a general national and patriotic sentiment. But 
as the caste system is so interwoven with the warp 
and woof of their religious and social fabric, as 
things now are, it is next to impossible for them to 
become united on a broad and sympathetic basis. 
The British Government has little to fear, no 
doubt, if the native leaders hold on to caste. There 
is hope, however, that the Indians will some day be- 
come a strong and united people, able to govern 
themselves. That hope, however, centers around 
the cross of Christ, and until the leaders of this 
land more generally welcome the thought and re- 
forms of Christian civilization with the abolishing 
of caste, all hope of developing a citizenship or pa- 
triotism worth shouting over, is mere childish 
vanity. 



I 



CHAPTER V. 



HINDUISM — IDOLATRY 



"For it is the land of graven images, and they are mad 
upon their idols." 

Tramp, tramp, tramp! Behold the infatuated 
heathen marching up the long flight of steps lead- 
ing to their gods of stone. On they go, almost 
running, inspired by the occasion and the supersti- 
tious hope of gain! Hear the rude thumping of 
the tom-toms, the weird shrill cry of the pipes, the 
groaning trombones, and the muttering roar of the 
throngs. At last they reach the top and lay their 
burdens down at the base of the shrine. 

But what are their burdens? Not their sins — 
alas, no! But mostly goats, fowls, fruit, cocoanuts, 
flowers, red lead, condiments, copper coins and 
shells. These things are given not to obtain de- 
liverance from sin; not new hearts; not help to 
live holy lives. No! no! These things are not what 
the masses of worshipers are after; but big crops, 
lacs of rupees, many sons, good luck, prosperity 
in worldly affairs, immunity from trouble, and tri- 
umph over enemies. 

The above is a faint picture of one of the many 
sights which has stirred our souls at some of In- 

45 



46 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

dia's religious fairs. We used to attend one of 
these vast gatherings near the mountains in North 
Berar with other missionaries, to preach Christ to 
the multitudes. The chief object of interest was a 
huge boulder of trap rock on the top of a high 
hill, whose power was said to be very great. It 
was the custom of the worshipers to daub a little 
red paint on the stone. This had been done so 
many times, the paint in places was one or two 
inches thick. Near the idol when the fair was in 
progress, butchers stood and decapitated the ani- 
mals brought as offerings, with one blow of the 
knife. 

Sometimes the crowd was so dense we had great 
difficulty in working our way through; and on the 
third day of the fair the dust and smells were 
often stifling. At this place there was a small 
pond which filled up by the rains; but the natives 
were taught to believe it was supplied from the 
Ganges in some mysterious way. It had the repu- 
tation of great purifying power ; but having no out- 
let, after tens of thousands had bathed in it, the 
water became exceedingly foul. 

Such, alas! is the credulity and superstition 
that pervade the minds of human beings that have 
drifted away from "the Light that lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world." I saw at this 
fair many Hindu devotees, some no doubt, striving 
after "mukti." One poor, deluded fellow, whose arm 
was held aloft, until rigid as iron, whose finger 
nails were several inches long and shaped like bird's 
claws, told us he had held his arm thus for twelve 



HINDUISM— IDOLATRY 47 

years, and was now unable to take it down. An- 
other fakir we saw kept lashing his leg with a 
whip, until it had swollen to nearly twice the size 
of the other. Others we saw were covered with 
ashes, their hair matted and the countenance pos- 
sessing a vacant expression. They were ostensibly 
seeking after release from materiality, and for re- 
absorption into Brahm. Such is Hinduism in 
some of its results, a complex system of supersti- 
tions and speculations, which, like a huge octopus, 
holds the people in its giant grasp. 

We stated in the first chapter that the people 
of India were under several great taskmasters. 
These have been enumerated as Caste, Idolatry, 
Pantheism and Fatalism. The religious instinct in 
the natives of this land is strong. Some one has 
said, "The Hindus bathe religiously, dress relig- 
iously, eat religiously, drink religiously and sin re- 
ligiously." This is not far from true; if by relig- 
ion is meant close observance of rites, ceremonies, 
"poojas," and the rigmarole of caste rules. In In- 
dia, religion runs in ruts. I heard a man near our 
room, chanting the same verses from 9 p. m. to 4 
a. m. On the night of Maha Shivaratri the wor- 
shipers sit up and repeat the thousand names of 
Shiva four times over. Brahmins perambulate 
about their gods of stone 108 times daily while say- 
ing over Sanscrit slokes, and pious females walk 
around the tulsee tree in the same fashion. 

Natives repeating the names of Ram, Govinda 
and other gods with the help of beads, are fre- 
quently heard along the streets, and it is not un- 



48 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

common to hear Hindus muttering the names of 
their gods while attending to their daily business. 
I have likewise heard Mohammedans and Parsees 
too, parroting over their prayers at an astonishing 
rate of speed. Kabir, a Hindi poet and reformer of 
300 years ago, revolted at this treadmill round of 
performances, and wrote against it. Here is one 
of his verses: 

"In turning beads the life was spent, 
Yet changed he not his heart's vile bent. 
O man, leave off this foolish art, 
And turn the necklace of thy heart." 

Besides the three gods of the Hindu triad, Brah- 
ma, Vishnu and Shiva, their consorts, progeny, and 
the so-called incarnations, there are multitudes of 
other objects of worship in modern Hinduism in- 
cluding cows, monkeys, snakes, and devils; the sun, 
moon, stars, mountains, rivers and trees. In very 
ancient times the sacred books enumerated thirty- 
three gods in the Hindu pantheon. But idolatry 
found a fertile soil in this land, and it seems the 
census-taker of the gods in later times evidently 
becoming discouraged, hastily bunched them up 
and reported that the Hindus had 330 million! Of 
course no one worships that number of idols — al* 
though it is sometimes stated in books that they 
do — but the great variety of objects of worship 
and adoration visible in the land, is truly astonish- 
ing. Gods of gold, silver, brass, stone, wood, clay, 
dough and cow-dung! 

Some idols are costly. A rajah, where we lived, 



HINDUISM— IDOLATRY 49 

had an idol of ivory worth a thousand rupees. 
Others are merely a worthless heap of pebbles 
sprinkled with turmeric. At some seasons the arti- 
san worships his tools, the fisherman his net, the 
money-lender his gold. Many of the hill people of 
the Betul District, both Hindus and aborigines, 
bury a plow in the main street of their villages, 
leaving one end sticking out. This they daub with 
red, and then worship it as a god. 

While touring in the native states of Raipur 
Division, I have seen iron chains and horses' bits 
hung up in the forest over rude heaps of stones, 
as objects of worship. On the borders of Gujerat 
I preached in one village under a tree in which 
was hung, from superstitious motives, a dead fowl 
with a bundle of hay. While near an adjacent vil- 
lage I saw a post twelve feet high, which had an 
umbrella tied to the top, and a curious outfit of 
cocoanut shells, earthen pots, stones, red lead, 
turmeric, etc., at the base — all consecrated to the 
god of wealth. 

But there is scarcely any limit to the number 
of these superstitions which fill the land, and are 
seen, as it were, "under every green tree." Near 
Bombay we have observed low-caste Hindus paying 
reverence, for good luck, to the Roman Catholic 
crosses so common around Mahim and Bandara; 
and in Berar, old rags and clouts are tied to the 
branches of trees for the same purpose. The cus- 
tom of stringing up mango leaves above the doors 
is common all over India. But this is not all. 
One class of Hindus hang about the neck a strange 



50 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

looking, heavy silver case enclosing the emblems of 
the vulgar phallic worship, which are more openly 
displayed at Shiva shines and in all his temples. 

Amulets, charms and the like are commonly 
worn by large numbers of the people. The former 
are often small metal cases in which are scraps of 
paper containing "mantras" from the sacred books. 
These are thought to be effectual in warding off 
disease, the influence of the "evil eye" and demons. 
In many of the bazaars may be seen junk-shops, 
where vendors of charms sell curious old relics, 
odds and ends, the mere possession of which are 
supposed to bring fortunes to their owners. These 
are called by way of distinction "pieces of witch- 
craft." I once happened to have one of these magic 
bits — a jackal's toe. It was given to me, but the 
original purchaser was most devoutly and confiden- 
tially informed, that the holder thereof would al- 
ways win his case at law! 

The "moral character" of many of the Hindu 
gods is very bad. Their sinful practises are well 
known to many of the people, besides being por- 
trayed in books; but as a rule it does not detract 
from their worship, as the worshipers have a 
proverb that "whatever the gods may do is not 
sin." I have seen ruins of temples in Central In- 
dia on which were carved gods and demi-gods, 
demons, hobgoblins, fighting heroes and dancing 
females in a partially nude state. At Benares, the 
most noted of the sacred cities, there are said to 
be 5,000 temples and shrines. On some of them 
which we have seen are carvings and paintings too 



HINDUISM— IDOLATRY 51 

vile to describe. These scenes do not strike the 
worshipers with horror or disgust, since their re 
ligion sanctifies all manner of nncleanness. As is 
the god, so is the worshiper. The wonder is, not 
that the Hindus do wickedly, but that in the en- 
vironment of such a system, they have any morality 
at all! 

Kali or Devi, the wife of Shiva, is much wor- 
shiped by the Hindus, not through motives of love 
and respect, but mainly through fear. She is 
usually pictured as of a frightful mien, with blood- 
shot eyes, disheveled hair and protruding tongue; 
having four arms, in one of which is the bloody 
head of a giant, and in another a sword; around 
her neck is a garland of skulls, while she tramples 
on a human body under her feet. She is the most 
blood-thirsty of all the gods. It was in her serv- 
ice, the devotees of Bengal used to jump on sharp 
knives imbedded in cotton. At a festival of this 
goddess in Nimar District, many years ago, we saw 
a woman tied by her hands and feet to the end of a 
pole, which was pivoted to the top of a post ten 
feet high, and then swung around like a swivel. 
At another place in the Melghat we witnessed a 
deluded woman beating her head unmercifully on 
the ground, while several men thrust long iron rods 
through their cheeks and danced to propitiate the 
goddess. 

In the service of Devi, the Marathi women some- 
times bleed themselves. During a recent tour in 
Wun Taluk, I saw a fakir in her service bite his 
own arm and make fearful holes therein with his 



52 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

teeth. In some parts of the country, devotees for- 
merly swung by hooks inserted in the flesh of their 
backs, while mothers cast their infants into the 
Ganges. 

The Thugs were a secret band of robbers which 
years ago infested the peninsula from North to 
South. They waylaid and strangled unsuspecting 
travelers, robbed them of their money, and buried 
them by the roadside after gashing them with 
knives. Their traditions said the goddess Kali 
used to endorse their bloody work by devouring 
the bodies of those whom they had killed. Once 
upon a time, however, they claimed that a certain 
member of this band, venturing to look behind, saw 
her feasting on a victim. This displeased the lat- 
ter and she vowed never to help them again to 
cover up their crime. But after satisfaction was 
obtained, she condescended to leave them her rib 
for a knife, her tooth for a pick-ax, and a hem of 
her garment for a noose. The Thugs used to wor- 
ship Kali, and were careful to attend minutely to 
all her bloody rites before going out by gangs to 
kill and steal. 

Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, al- 
though not the most feared, is apparently the most 
popular and tangible of the Hindu gods. There are 
some events of his life that seem to have been bor- 
rowed and adapted from the gospel narratives; but 
the conduct of this god was grossly immoral and 
the mere recital of his plays and sports is demoral- 
izing to most of the listeners. Besides stealing but- 
ter and curds, and on one occasion the clothes of 



HINDUISM— IDOLATRY 53 

female bathers, he is said to have had 16,000 wives. 
He killed the great tyrant Kans, and it is recorded 
that this was the chief end of his incarnation. 

The largest temple in Darwah is dedicated to 
Krishna under the name of Balaji. He has also 
temples at Wun and many other places in Berar. 
In some towns they have car-festivals, when a two 
or- three-storied vehicle is drawn about the streets. 
I once slept in the chowree of a large village. 
The noise of a festival woke me up in the middle 
of the night. Going out I saw a two-storied char- 
iot like a temple on wheels pulled along by fifty or 
sixty men with a large rope. This was accom- 
panied with singing and the music of drums, 
gongs, cymbals and bells. Placed on the top of 
the car was a brass image of Balaji decorated with 
flowers, red paint, etc., while close by were attend- 
ants waiting on the idol, waving fans about it, 
sprinkling incense and making prostrations. The 
clatter was deafening. There was not much effort 
at musical harmony. 

The chief thing in native demonstrations of this 
kind is noise. Occasionally to keep up the enthu- 
siasm, the leaders raised a sort of a "Hip, hip, 
hurrah;" and the people joined in. This went on 
until at last the priests themselves got tired, and 
Balaji was hauled back to his temple. I saw no 
effort at self torture during this festival, but the 
crushing of devotees at Jaganath is a well known 
fact. Multitudes in the season, go to that noted 
shrine and the roads are said to be lined with hu- 
man bones. At Muttra, the birthplace of Krishna, 



54 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

are the largest and costliest Hindu temples I have 
seen. Around one of them, while on a recent visit, 
we were shown the numerous apartments where, at 
the time of fairs, multitudes of female pilgrims, 
so it is said, are both robbed and debauched by the 
priests. 

Attempts have been made to spiritualize the 
love songs of Krishna and the milkmaids. There 
is a respectable side to Krishna's character con- 
tained in the Bhagwat Geeta, a later book of phil- 
osophical and ethical teaching. This is the book 
put forward by the "Swamis" who air their Hin- 
duism in America, befooling shallow-minded Yan- 
kees. It is also the last resort of educated Hin- 
dus in their defense of Hinduism; but it is purely 
a Hindu book and teaches caste, polytheism, pan- 
theism, transmigration, etc., with false theories of 
sin and salvation. (See B. G. 3:36, 37; 4:13; 7: 
4, etc.; 7:12; 7:23; 9:20; 9:29; 16:19, 20, and 
many other texts.) 

The polytheism of modern Hinduism is a be- 
wildering and complex system; if indeed it be a 
system at all. Lyall has described it as a tangled 
jungle of disorderly superstitions; ghosts and de- 
mons, demigods and deified saints; household gods, 
tribal gods, universal gods; with countless shrines 
and temples, and the din of their discordant rites; 
deities who abhor a fly's death, those who delight 
still in human victims, and those who would not 
either sacrifice or make offerings. 

Amidst such a perplexing maze it is not sur- 
prising to find the minds of multitudes of the Hin- 



HINDUISM— IDOLATRY 55 

dus full of doubts and fears as to "who holds the 
reins ■;" and the trend of Hindu thought has ever 
been toward the speculations and skepticism of the 
philosophical shasters — not indeed to find rest, but 
to rebound again in time to the fears and super- 
stitions of idolatry. In illustration of this vague 
feeling, I quote from Wilkins: "An old Brahmin 
pundit and priest whom I frequently conversed 
with, told me that in his own daily worship, he 
first made an offering to his own chosen deity, 
Narayan (Vishnu), and when this was done, he 
threw a handful of rice broadcast for the other 
deities to scramble for; and it was his hope, he 
said, by so doing and thus recognizing their exist- 
ence and authority (though there was no clear no- 
tion in his mind respecting any one of them), that 
he would keep them all in good humor toward him- 
self. He further assured me that the general idea 
of the Hindu was this : Each must worship his own 
chosen deity with earnestness and devotion; and 
in order not to be disrespectful to the others, and 
bring upon himself their resentment, he must give 
a general acknowledgment of their existence and 
authority." 



CHAPTER VI. 

HINDUISM, PANTHEISM, FATE, ASCETICISM 
"Knowledge falsely so called." 

Some years ago as I was walking along the banks 
of the Tapti, one of the sacred streams of India, 
I came to a temple, on the plinth of which a man 
was seated in oriental style. He was alone and ap- 
parently in a deep study. His body was entirely 
nude aside from a small strip of cloth about the 
loins. His hair was matted and disorderly, while 
his face, arms and chest were covered with ashes. 
He kept a deathly silence and paid no attention to 
the passers by, nor to me. He seemed oblivious, as 
it were, to all the world about, with this exception : 
in front of him was a broken sherd containing 
some filthy looking stuff, from which he now and 
then took a pinch and threw it into his mouth. What 
this article of food was, I did not inquire at the 
time. I have since learned that men of this class 
are wont at times to eat of a compound mixed in 
a skull and made of the "five products of the cow." 
The component parts of this substance are milk, 
ghee, curds, urine and dung, and according to the 
Hindu Shasters is a most sin-purifying mixture (?) 

Some time after the above incident, I saw a sim- 

66 






HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 57 

ilar specimen of humanity at a fair we attended near 
a sacred tomb. There were crowds of fakirs in at- 
tendance more or less clothed. This man was at- 
tired like the above ascribed ascetic, and would sit 
for hours on a deer skin, in meditation, with both 
legs drawn back of his neck and his arms folded 
around them. 

At Beltek fair and other places, I have seen 
ascetics lying on boards filled with iron spikes. At 
Daygaon fair we noticed one of these rolling devo- 
tees, revolving on the ground like a barrel, and at 
another large gathering, a female ascetic meas- 
uring her length on the ground at Pandharpur. 
One missionary I heard of saw an ascetic who had 
been rolling nine years. He had undertaken to 
travel in this way from Benares to Cape Comorin, 
some 1,500 miles, and when seen by the missionary, 
had actually accomplished half the journey. A 
most striking account of asceticism and self-tor- 
ture occurs in the Life of Chundra Lela, the re- 
cently converted Hindu widow of Bengal. She had 
been a mendicant for years. In fulfilment of a vow, 
she would sit between four hot fires all day with 
the burning sun overhead, and at night in a pond 
of water up to her waist. This practise she kept 
up many months until the spell was broken. Now 
these are but few samples of that large class of be- 
nighted heathen who may be seen in many places 
all over India. They are called by various names, 
but "sadhu" or saint is the common term for all. 
They start out on their career, most of them at 
least, we may reasonably suppose, to acquire merit 



58 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

and secure salvation (from the Hindu standpoint). 
After a while the great majority degenerate into 
mere hypocritical beggars or jugglers. The degree 
of self-endurance, composure and equipoise under 
painful and distracting circumstances which some 
of them possess, is very remarkable. I have seen 
them in silent meditation at Benares and other 
places, sitting like statues without moving a mus- 
cle, and they have reminded me most strikingly of 
the nude marble "saints" in the ancient temples 
of Muktigarhi. It is reported there are devotees 
who had been known to stand sixteen years in one 
position ! 

The ascetics and religious mendicants in British 
India number from five to six million, of whom 
50,000 are in the Central Provinces and over 3,000 
in the old Wun District alone. Of the great ma- 
jority it may be said as Kipling said of Kim, they 
"do nothing with an immense success." This vast 
army of non-producers, and for the most part, 
parasites on the public charity, is largely the nat- 
ural outcome of Hinduism, not only in its many 
phases of idolatry, but in its philosophical theories 
as well. In fact, it has been shown by Goreh in his 
Lectures on Theism that a man need not worship 
idols at all nor even visit a temple to be counted 
a real Hindu. Generally speaking, however, he 
must believe in the Vedantic doctrines of Panthe- 
ism and Maya, and in transmigration and fate. He 
must also keep caste, acknowledge the supremacy 
of the Brahmins and the sanctity of the cow. 

Max Muller says "the discovery of Sanscrit hi 



HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 59 

the last century, brought to light the ancient rec- 
ords of three religions." Not only religious books, 
in the ordinary sense of that term, but tomes of 
philosophies of the maddest kind were brought 
forth; atheistic, dualistic and pantheistic, India 
from ancient times, without the chart of revelation, 
and with the inner light of conscience often ob- 
scured, has ever been the skirmishing ground of 
the wildest speculations. Pierson has truly said, 
"Infidel opinions, monstrous and many shaped, are 
ever and anon thrown up amidst the heavings of 
restless humanity." This land furnishes striking 
illustrations of the above fact. According to Ve- 
dantism, considered by the Hindus the orthodox 
school, all the universe except the Supreme Being, 
is under the influence of "Maya," which is general- 
ly translated "illusion;" but its real essence is dif- 
ficult to define, as Vedantists do not wish to call 
it matter. We think we have personal existence, a 
will and consciousness. We feel certain things are 
right and others wrong. We think we go here, and 
there, do this, and do that. We fancy we see beau- 
tiful sights, hear lovely sounds and taste savory 
food. But it is all a deception and a delusion, a 
mere dream as it were. Some day we shall wake 
up and find out our mistake. But for the pres- 
ent we are under the spell of Maya. The god of 
Vedantism, called Brahm, is said to be the soul of 
the universe. He is called "pure spirit," meaning 
thereby that he is not bound in any way to matter, 
but with the exception of existence, he is said to be 
minus attributes, minus consciousness, minus per- 



60 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

sonality and eternally quiescent. According to one 
account, he cannot make anything without first as- 
suming a material form, yet strangely enough he is 
said to be made of three elements called Life, 
Thought and Joy, or as Monier Williams has aptly 
put it, "Life with nothing to live for, Thought with 
nothing to think about, Joy with nothing to re- 
joice over/' 

This almost unthinkable god of Vedantism who 
is said to be in fact the only thing that really ex- 
ists, once actually woke up and said to himself, 
"I am one, I will be many." So for "his own 
amusement," the philosophers say, he allowed him- 
self to be influenced by Maya, and the emanations 
therefrom are the apparent universe and its phe- 
nomena. His chief personalities as the result of 
the above, form the well known Hindu triad, name- 
ly, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and 
Shiva the Destroyer. 

Corresponding to these three deities, there are 
said to be three roads all equally sure, leading 
to emancipation from bondage to matter or illu- 
sion (call it whichever you like), and reabsorption 
into Brahm. This is the goal of all the strivings 
of Hinduism. The "mukti" and the "nirvana" of 
the sacred books. The sum-mum bonum to be at- 
tained by all. The essence of philosophical Hindu- 
ism then, is not to obtain deliverance from sin, but 
ostensibly from materiality. Will not suicide, it 
may be asked, secure the end at short notice? It 
will not. This brings us to two other very ancient 
Hindu heresies, namely, Transmigration and Fate. 



HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 61 

These terrible dogmas are believed by all classes. 
The latter also by Mohammedans. Combined, they 
oblige the soul to pass through millions of forms 
and stages of existence, even to the inhabiting of 
dogs, cats, lizards and snakes, as well as more de- 
sirable forms, until, having suffered the full pen- 
alty of sins as well as enjoyed the full reward of 
good deeds, it will be duly released as above men- 
tioned. There is no real assurance that this pro- 
cess will cease to go on forever, but it is the pop- 
ular belief that it extends to 8,400,000 births. 

All the heavens and hells of the Shasters are 
but temporary abodes of bliss or suffering, and 
even the gods above as well as the devils beneath, 
are alike, with men and animals, subject to the in- 
evitable law of fate. To cut this long journey 
short, however, and reach absorption is the chief 
aim of the devotees and ascetics described above, 
and in fact of all Hindus who regard their relig- 
ion and caste. Hence the vast number of pen- 
ances, fastings, pilgrimages, austerities, ablutions, 
prayers, etc. 

Dr. Thoburn says, "The body is looked upon as 
an enemy and treated accordingly." There is a 
popular proverb to this effect: 

"By pilgrimages we cleanse our feet, 
By alms we cleanse our hands, 
Our mouths we cleanse as we repeat 
God's name as ocean sands." 

But alas! in all Hinduism there is no provision for 
cleansing the heart! Those Hindus who favor the 



62 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

worship of Shiva are said to be after "mukti" by 
the "way of works;" those who prefer Vishnu, are 
in the "way of devotion;" but the "way of knowl- 
edge" is the most expeditious of all. It however 
involves a perfect ignoring of the senses and ma- 
terial desires, and a perfect abstraction of the 
mind from all that is tangible or thinkable. To 
"acquire knowledge" in the meaning of Hindu phi- 
losophy is not discovering one's own vileness nor 
the infinite perfections of the Deity, but to experi- 
ence the so-called verity of Vedantism, that the 
soul and God are identical. The devotee thereby 
loses his individuality and consciousness and sep- 
arate existence, and is reabsorbed by the Soul of 
the Universe as a drop of water by the ocean, 
thenceforth to be wrapped in eternal sleep. 

The Yogee philosophy prescribes eight means of 
mental concentration to secure the above result, 
one of which is "profound meditation, or a state of 
religious trance which is most effectually attained 
by such practises as fixing the eyes intently and in- 
cessantly on the tip of the nose." Hence a Yogee 
is an ascetic seeking "mukti" by quiet meditation. 

Many of these "sadhus" having failed after 
long efforts to attain "knowledge," have neverthe- 
less acquired a great reputation for sanctity, be- 
come impudent and bold and sometimes commit 
great excesses under this cloak. 

I have known mendicants of the quiet kind 
stand in silence for an hour in front of our mission 
house with one hand pointed up to the sky, hoping 
thereby to receive alms; others more active, try 




••»- 



HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 63 

to obtain money from us by appeals which are suc- 
cessful with their own people; and it is a common 
sight in our bazaars of Central India to see fakirs 
snatching grain, vegetables, etc., from the stock of 
unwilling shop keepers who often protest, but in 
vain. Once in a while in these matter-of-fact times, 
they receive their just deserts. A certain yogee 
was reported to have made great progress in the 
"way of knowledge," even reaching that stage by 
his austerities, where he became insensible to pain. 
Once it so happened that he was charged and found 
guilty before a Government officer of having com- 
mitted a serious offense. The latter failing to rec- 
ognize and take into consideration his great 
sanctity, ordered him to receive thirty stripes like 
any other criminal. After the first round was 
finished, the sadhu getting up, remarked that "it 
was all the same to him as he had not even felt it." 
The officer on hearing this replied, "Very well, if 
that is the case we'll have it done over again." The 
second time however, the strokes were so well laid 
on, that the so-called saint, despite his "yogee" at- 
tainments, cried aloud for mercy. 



CHAPTER VII. 



MOHAMMEDANISM 



"And he said unto him, I also am a prophet as thou art; 

and an angel spake unto me by the word of the 

Lord * * * but he lied unto him." 

One-fifth of the inhabitants of British India are 
followers of the false prophet. Their religion is a 
compound of Arab superstitions, Judaism, corrupt 
Christianity and Zoroastrianism, to which its 
founder gave the name of Islam. Like most other 
man-made systems it teaches salvation by the merit 
of works, but is less complicated than Hinduism. 
The so-called "five pillars of practise" are Repeti- 
tion of the Creed, Almsgiving, Fasting in Ramazan, 
Prayers five times daily and Pilgrimage to Mecca. 

A Mohammedan in giving an epitome of his 
faith once said to me, "Our religion is five cubits 
wide and thirty cubits long" by which fanciful di- 
mensions he alluded to their five daily prayers and 
the thirty days fast of Lent. Indian Mohammed- 
ans rely mostly on these two conditions, but es- 
pecially the latter. As a rule most Moslems what- 
ever they do or do not do, never neglect the fast. 
It should be noted, however, that it is merely a 
shifting of meals from daylight to dark, although 

64 



MOHAMMEDANISM 65 

it is total abstinence during the day, even to water. 
The Koran forbids the use of pork and wine to 
Moslems, and so far as they have heeded these re- 
strictions, I dare say the result has been of immense 
benefit to its followers. But like the bathing three 
times a day of the Tahitians, and the refusal of 
Par sees to smoke, these practises are merely re- 
ligious whims, as they disregard the laws of health 
in many ways. 

Mohammedans, who are familiar with their re- 
ligion, are stanch Unitarians. Islam has no incar- 
nations. No loving self-sacrifice for rebels could 
be expected from the God of the Koran. It is a 
fact that book speaks of God as being merciful, but 
it is leniency, not true mercy or love that is found 
therein. The spirit of the Koran is clemency to 
Moslems, however great their crimes, but bitter 
persecution to unbelievers. 

The animus of Mohammedanism in India has 
been greatly tempered by contact with other creeds, 
whose followers all have equal religious and politi- 
cal rights under British rule. Religious neutrality 
is the law here, and equal educational privileges 
are for the most part extended to all. It is re- 
markable how few Moslems comparatively, are fa- 
miliar with the Koran. Yet it is not so strange 
when we consider that they are only allowed to 
read it in the Arabic. A few years ago the papers 
informed us that the Sultan of Turkey presented 
the Czar of Russia a piece of "the true cross on 
which Christ was crucified" set in jewels. If the 
report was true, the Sultan, who is the great pa- 



66 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

tron of Islam, must have got himself "into a box," 
as the Koran in the sixth Sipara affirms that Christ 
was not crucified nor killed, but went to heaven 
alive. 

The Mohammedanism of India has taken on 
many additions not authorized by the Koran, such 
as the Mohurrum festival, worship of saints, caste, 
etc. The average Moslem here is perhaps not so 
bigoted and fanatical as in Mohammedan lands. 
When pressed to give a reason for his hope of sal- 
vation, a follower of Islam will usually place a 
high price on his "good works" and a small fine on 
his sins. Multitudes under the light of Christian 
truth have discovered that these good works are 
not sufficient to satisfy Divine justice. In such a 
dilemma one Mohammedan said to me that God 
would take "bribes," while some others more rever- 
ent have referred me to Hussan and Hussein, so- 
called martyrs of Islam, as in some sense atoning 
for their sins as Christ atoned for ours. 

Mohammedans of this land keep caste in their 
relation to outsiders so far as food and drink are 
concerned, but are free from those complexities of 
the system which are such an incubus to the Hin- 
dus. This gives the former a great advantage over 
the latter, as Hindus of low caste, outcasts and 
aborigines can be taken in and with a stroke 
brought up to the same level, theoretically at least, 
with nabobs, landlords and merchants. The last 
census of India showed a slight decrease in Hindu 
population, whereas Mohammedans had increased 



MOHAMMEDANISM 67 

nine per cent and Protestant native Christians 
about fifty per cent in the decade. 

It is practically impossible for the vast major- 
ity of Moslems in India, on account of their pov- 
erty, to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Still many 
do manage to scrape together enough to pay their 
fare thither. I have seen the by-ways and vacant 
spaces of Bombay swarming with pilgrims in camp, 
waiting for passage by steamer to Jeddah. It is 
an immense source of revenue to steamship com- 
panies, which, like the brass founders of Germany, 
grow fat on the superstitions of heathen lands. To 
complete the tale of Moslem good works necessary 
to make salvation sure according to the orthodox 
rule, the "hajj" or pilgrimage should not be neg- 
lected. It is considered most meritorious — the cap- 
sheaf so to speak — or rather the keystone of the 
arch to the bridge that leads to Paradise. It is, 
in fact, if repeated, a work of supererogation, and 
may operate as an indulgence to sin. The Arabs 
have a proverbial saying: "If a man has been to 
Mecca once, well and good; if twice, have an eye 
on him; if three times, have nothing to do with 
him;" i. e., he has become so holy he is dangerous, 
and has laid up such a stock of religious merit 
ahead, that he can commit any amount of sin with 
impunity. 

None but Moslems are allowed in Mecca and it 
would be very dangerous for any European to en- 
deavor to steal a peep at the "holy city." Some 
Englishmen, it seems, have recently adopted Islam. 
One of them, a correspondent of the Times of In 



68 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

dia, in the issue of that paper November 14, 1906, 
gives a detailed account of his pilgrimage to 
Mecca, the greater part of which I quote as proof 
of the heathenism and idolatry of Islam. To most 
of our readers it will doubtless be new. Among 
other things he says: 

"Having obtained permission from the proper 
authorities to proceed, we arrived in Mecca 
shortly after four o'clock, and my first impression 
was one of disappointment. I had looked forward 
to a magnificent, walled city, but instead I found 
squalid shops and houses on either side of a 
broad, dusty road. True we ha-d previously passed 
a large ugly stone barracks with military offices 
and quarters of several of the higher officers. How- 
ever, after proceeding some distance along the road 
we came into the heart of the city. Here the houses 
are very high and substantially built. The town 
is crescent shaped owing to a fairly high fortified 
hill that breaks into the middle of it and from 
which a splendid view can be obtained of the whole 
city. If confusion had been great in Jeddah, here 
it was a hundred times worse. The streets are ex- 
ceedingly narrow and were packed tight with pil- 
grims. Every now and then a caravan would force 
its way through by sheer force of weight, only to 
meet another coming from the other direction and 
then an absolute block ensued. 

"Before we had been in Mecca many minutes we 
were pounced on by one of the boarding house keep- 
ers. They are known as Moutawifs, and as during 
the three months of the hot season they have to 







A BRAHMIN AT PRAYERS 



MOHAMMEDANISM 69 

make sufficient money to keep them for the re- 
mainder of the year, they are about the most grasp- 
ing, unscrupulous blackguards in the world. With- 
out consulting my wishes in the least I found my 
camel being forced to kneel, and half pulled, half 
helped out of the shoogdoof, I found myself sitting 
before a tray of rather tempting looking food. My 
host appeared to speak a little Hindustani and 
through this medium we were able to carry on some 
sort of conversation. As soon as I had finished my 
meal and had a smoke, the Moutawif informed me 
that he was ready to conduct me to the Mas j id al 
Haram, there to go through the ceremony of Tawaf 
or encircling the Kaaba several times. This should 
always be performed as soon after arrival as pos- 
sible. Pushing and being pushed we made our way 
through the streets in the direction of the Mosque 
till suddenly I found myself on the threshold of 
one of its numerous gates. The floor of the mosque 
is fifteen feet below the level of the streets and I 
shall never forget my first view of the interior. 
The whole place was crammed, and just as we 
entered, the call for eveDing prayer (Maghrib) 
sounded. Instantly every sound was still and noth- 
ing broke the silence but the clear beautiful voice 
of the Muezzin as he enjoined the faithful to come 
to pray. Remaining where we were, we joined in 
the prayer, after which, stumbling and tripping 
at every step, I was led through the huge concourse 
right to the centre of the mosque where is situated 
the Kaaba. 

"I confess I felt somewhat excited and waa 



70 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

greatly relieved to observe that no one paid any 
attention whatever to me ; and after going through 
the prescribed prayers for those about to perform 
Tawaf, I was hurried into the dense crowd engaged 
in performing that duty. The correct method of 
wearing the Ihram is to leave the right shoulder 
and arm uncovered; but, as I had a wild boar 
tattooed on the arm, I preferred to keep myself cov- 
ered. My guide was considerably annoyed at this 
as I had not given him my reasons for doing so. This 
was no place for an argument, however, and work- 
ing our way to the right hand side of the Black 
Stone we merged into the encircling crowd. As 
soon as this was done my guide commenced shout- 
ing out the prayers used on this occasion. I was 
supposed to repeat after him, but owing to the 
noise and the rapidity with which he spoke I was 
unable to hear what he was saying and contented 
myself with shouting at the top of my voice as 
nearly as possible in imitation of my guide. We 
had started with what was supposed to be a dig- 
nified walk, saluting the Black Stone and the angle 
to the right of it every time we passed them. There 
was not, I am afraid, much dignity possible, and 
the scene reminded me for all the world of an im- 
mense crowd struggling to buy tickets outside a 
theatre at home. After the third circuit my guide 
motioned me to double up my arms and run. The 
latter I found impossible, but although going no 
faster than an ordinary walk we imitated the action 
on a run. After the seventh round the Tawaf was 



MOHAMMEDANISM 71 

completed and we lost no time in dropping out of 
the procession. 

"After a few more prayers I was conducted out 
of the mosque and found myself once more in a 
dense crowd engaged in performing the Sai cere- 
mony. This consists in passing backward and for- 
ward several times between the hills Safa and 
Marwa, at the same time calling out the prescribed 
prayers. The confusion here was beyond belief. 

"Those returning from Safa would meet those re- 
turning from Marwa, and for a few moments one 
almost expected to see blood shed. Nothing of the 
kind happened however, all being too intent on 
their devotions to notice anything else. At either 
end of the road running between Safa and Marwa is 
erected a stone arch and a flight of steps; here one 
rests a while, while a short prayer is recited and 
then the next trip is made. Here also two paces 
are used ; the first part of the road is covered at an 
ordinary walk; but on arriving at two pillars — one 
built into the side of the mosque and the other into 
a house on the opposite side of the road — the elbows 
are again brought up and a short trot indulged 
in; after passing another mark the ordinary pace 
is resumed. 

"Though the scene presented a somewhat bar- 
barous appearance, there could be no doubt as to 
the absolute sincerity of the vast crowd participa- 
ting in it. Negotiating four hundred yards of road 
seven times under such conditions is no light task 
and long before it was completed I hardly knew 
whether I stood on my head or my feet. I was soon 



72 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

enlightened in this respect, however, for, just as 
I was starting on my sixth trip a donkey put its 
hoof down on one of my big toes. * * * * * 
Bathed in perspiration and with my Ihram torn, I 
was only too pleased when we arrived at Marwa at 
the end of the seventh station. Here another short 
prayer was recited and we returned to the house 
where the evening meal was being served. 

"Next morning I was up rather early and went 
to the mosque for the Fajr prayers; it was still 
almost dark when I arrived and I noticed that 
many people had evidently passed the night there. 
Some out of devotion but more on account of hav- 
ing no other place to go. There was still a large 
number of people performing Taw,af, but nothing 
like yesterday's crowd; and being anxious to get 
another view of the Black Stone I joined them and 
sauntered round two or three times. I found it 
impossible, however, to touch the stone on account 
of the numbers of Bedouins struggling around it 
like a pack of wild beasts. Their great aim ap- 
peared to be to kiss it, and many received injuries 
to the features during the process. Leaving here 
I went for a stroll around the mosque and while 
doing so attempted to count the pillars supporting 
the roofs of the piazzas. This I found a hopeless 
task, and one which appeared to attract the atten- 
tion of those present. The building itself, which 
is an uneven square, shows signs of age and also 
of neglect. In pacing it off I found it was roughly 
180 yards long by 120 yards tfroad. 

"On the following day in the morning the call 



MOHAMMEDANISM 73 

to prayers had already sounded and I had barely 
time to get settled in my place when they com- 
menced. The effect was electrical, and as the Alla- 
hoo Akbar was sounded by the hundreds of Mollahs 
assembled in the four Oratories the whole as- 
semblage stood to their feet. So simultaneously 
was this done that one could almost imagine that 
those assembled had been drilled to it. It is cus- 
tomary during prayers to keep the eyes fixed on 
the ground about the spot where the forehead 
touches when making the salute, but for the life of 
me, I was unable to keep my eyes from straying. 
The whole scene was most impressive. Facing 
towards the Kaaba, were over 100,000 devotees, 
bareheaded, barefooted and all dressed alike in the 
Ihram. 

"The day following this ceremony was busily 
passed in preparing for the journey to Arafaa. 

"Later in the afternoon a priest mounted on a 
white camel, delivered a sermon from Adams Pillar. 
Nearly every one attended, though owing to the 
immense assembly, very few could hear what was 
being said. All at intervals waved white cloths. 
The sermon over, there was a general rush back to 
the tents to make ready for departure, and, half an 
hour later amidst the wildest confusion, the whole 
encampment were under way. We arrived at Moz- 
dalfa after dark, and spreading our carpets on the 
sand prepared to spend the night in meditation 
and prayer. I noticed, however, that a good many 
fell asleep, as I did myself before very long. 

"At midnight all was astir again and soon we 



74 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

were moving towards Mina where, from two to 
three days are spent, according to the sect to which 
one belongs, and the number of times the three 
Satans have to be stoned. Our Mutawif had en- 
gaged a house for us here ; and after a rather weary- 
ing struggle we managed to reach it about four in 
the morning. After a couple of hours sleep, I was 
called by my old servant, who pressing seven small 
clean stones into my hand told me to come with 
him to stone the Biggest Devil. We got there all 
right, but, here as everywhere else, the crush was 
terrific, and as each stone must be thrown separ- 
ately and hit its mark we had to fight our way 
closer. Next day I was given twenty-one stones. 
Starting with the biggest I threw seven stones at 
each of the three Satans. Next day I again visited 
them and administered another stoning, after 
which I was taken to offer my sacrifice. 

"This was a most gruesome ceremony. Hastily 
selecting a fat little goat I got a man to cut its 
throat for me. The stench here was revolting. The 
struggling, bleeding animals and innumerable flies 
rendered it a most unpleasant place to remain in 
any longer than necessary. And yet, there were 
coffee stalls here with people drinking and enjoy- 
ing themselves inside them. On the evening of the 
third day spent in Mina, we returned to Mecca. 

"As my stay in Mecca was now merely a matter 
of a few days and I had not yet visited the sacred 
well of Zem-Zem I decided to do so that afternoon. 
But when I presented myself at the door leading 
to the well, the doorkeeper, probably knowing that 



MOHAMMEDANISM 75 

I was an Englishman although dressed as a Turk, 
refused me admittance, at the same time passing 
some remarks which caused many of those near by 
to regard me suspiciously. To linger would have 
been folly; so returning to my house I changed 
again into the Ihram and presented myself once 
more at the door of the well. This time no notice 
was taken of me and slipping half a sovereign into 
the attendant's hand, I passed in. 

''Here I found some sixty people crowded into 
a small domed room in the centre of which was the 
well, protected by an iron balustrade. All were 
busy drinking the sacred water and those who were 
unable to drink more were pouring it over their 
persons. Others were dipping long strips of white 
cloth into this same well, and then wringing them 
dry. These clothes, I afterwards learned, were to 
be used as shrouds by their owners. This well is 
greatly favored by those suffering from disease; 
and as in the crush a great deal of the water is 
spilt and returns to the well after contact with 
their bodies, I fancy the water must be dreadfully 
contaminated. Drinking a small cupful most of 
which, however, was spilt while raising it to my 
lips, I hurried out of the building just in time to 
escape a second cup. 

"The following day being Friday, I witnessed 
the same magnificent spectacle of over 100,000 as- 
sembled at prayer, this time, however, the people 
being in their every day costumes, the scene lacked 
the chaste simplicity of the previous week's cere- 
mony. Permission to leave was now granted to 



76 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

all desirous of doing so. The reason for keeping 
this vast number of people cooped up in Mecca for 
several days after the Hajj is completed is osten- 
sibly to give the soldiers guarding the road back 
to Jeddah time to resume their posts, but in real- 
ity, I fancy to favor the town's people who derive 
an immense profit during this period." 

The sincerity of the above writer as a convert 
may perhaps be questioned, still his account of 
what he saw is doubtless correct. Pilgrims to 
Mecca receive on leaving, a large certificate which 
Dr. Jessup says is considered by Moslems as good 
as a passport to heaven. 

Concerning the Black Stone mentioned above, it 
is a relic of Arab idolatry which Mohammed al- 
lowed, to conciliate the people, but which like the 
grave-worship in India, is one of the incongruities 
of Islam. Mission work among Moslems is usually 
considered quite difficult. In India it is by far the 
most promising of all lands. Many thousands of 
Moslems have been baptized thus far in different 
parts of the empire. Of the natives I have myself 
baptized, three were converts from the faith. In 
the following chapter my wife gives the account of 
the conversion of a Mohammedan woman who was 
remarkable in her intelligence, and contrasted 
strongly with the vast majority of the women of 
her class who are indeed in a most degraded con- 
dition. 




MAHADEV S TEMPLE AT DAEWAH 




ETHEL WARD AND JAYWERBEE 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A TROPHY OF GRACE 

"For Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not 
be taken away from her." 

THEBE E. WARD. 

Jaywerbee, the subject of this sketch, was born 
of a respectable Mohammedan family of the Sunni 
sect. Her father was a pensioner under a native 
prince. Her mother was able to read a little Arabic. 
Her grandmother was a teacher of Arabic and 
taught Jaywerbee to read. She was her mother's 
only child. She was married when about eighteen 
years old, contrary to the custom of marrying off 
little girls practised by the Hindus and most of the 
Mohammedans. Her husband was a muezzin, a 
caller to prayers in a mosque. He had a humble 
home given him by those who frequented the 
mosque and a scanty pittance on which to subsist. 
The wife was an energetic woman and to help eke 
out their living, would take in sewing from the 
native tailors. Sewing is an accomplishment with 
which few native women (comparatively speak- 
ing) are familiar. This and the gifts of their 
friends kept them above want. They had several 

77 



78 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

children, three of whom lived to grow up. The 
second daughter was taught to read Urdu and Ara- 
bic, the latter costing the parents sixteen cents a 
month, which to them was quite an amount. 

Before her husband's death she lived in purdah. 
Purdah means veil. She was kept secluded accord- 
ing to the customs of many Mohammedans and 
Hindus. After her husband's death in 1896, al- 
though left with two children to support she had 
more liberty and went out, but not without care- 
fully covering her face and body with a large white 
sheet called "chudder." The older daughter had 
been given in marriage some time before her hus- 
band's death. Jaywerbee was thrifty and macle a 
comfortable living until the famine of 1897. Being 
then in straitened circumstances and hearing of 
our need of a cook, she applied for the place. This 
she did not without trepidation, so she afterwards 
told us, for she had never served in any family 
before, much less a European. 

From the first we were impressed with her faith- 
fulness at her work, with her tact in adapting her- 
self to every circumstance and with the ability she 
had in cooking for such a large number. She came 
to us in April or May, 1897, the hottest months of 
all the year. With the assistance of but one woman 
to clean the cooking utensils, and help to keep the 
cook house in order, she cooked for our family of 
three, and about one hundred native children we 
had taken in during the famine, and sometimes 
even for more. When she saw the great need of the 
famine sufferers for cooked food (we were giving 



A TROPHY OF GRACE 79 

them raw grain) she offered of her own accord, to 
cook for 200 people more, thus making over 300 
people daily whose wants she attended to. This 
she did until August 27, 1897, when Mr. Ward was 
taken down with the cholera. We were obliged to 
suspend famine relief work except among the 
orphans, as he was in a critical condition and I 
could not attend to the poor people. 

One circumstance will show what a blessing she 
was to us. As the number of famine sufferers in- 
creased, it was impossible for the cook to take two 
hours leave at noon according to custom, and get 
supper ready at five o'clock. Hence I was often 
troubled by this meal being late. She solved this 
problem without my asking her (in fact I never 
thought of doing so) by offering to give up her 
nooning and begin cooking the supper earlier. At 
this time she was not a Christian and would not 
touch our food or drinking water, for her own use; 
and would go all day without eating until she went 
home at night. It was characteristic of her to be 
ready at all times to help us out in difficulties. No 
whining, no long faces, but ever ready to obey 
orders with cheerfulness. 

Although of a superior caste, she did not object 
to do here what is considered as menial work. 
Cooking is thought to be more respectable than 
other work, but she was even ready to wait on sick 
and filthy children. We used to feel that Jaywer- 
bee was as much a gift from God to help us out at 
this trying time, as was the money that came from 
friends to carry on the work. She had an only son 



80 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

of whom she was very fond. She was with us for 
some time before she would bring him to associate 
with the boys and girls in our orphanage. And for 
a long time after his coming, they ate by them- 
selves, cooking their food at the mission. The in- 
fluence in our home at this time had its effect upon 
her, and among other things, she came to the con- 
clusion that there was no merit in her keeping 
caste. She first broke it by eating our food, but 
did not make her boy do the same. 

The exercises of her mind were interesting while 
passing through this transition period. She was 
very open and frank, every knotty problem being 
freely talked over with me after the day's work was 
done. She interested herself in everything pertain- 
ing to the native children, keeping us posted on 
many important matters which had escaped our no- 
tice. It was our usual custom to go the rounds to- 
gether after the day's work was over and inspect 
the children to see if all were properly in bed. Very 
often this occurred as late as ten o'clock at night. 
I would come into my room almost exhausted, and 
throw myself into a chair. She would sit at my 
feet on the floor, and although probably as tired 
as myself, would invariably turn the conversation 
on the state of her soul, often greatly lamenting 
her sins. 

At first her sins looked trifling to her. She 
thought she had not committed very grievous of- 
fences. She said she had taken a little thread, 
pieces of cloth, etc., from the native tailors by 
whom she had been employed, but she would end 



A TROPHY OF GRACE 81 

up with a little laugh saying, "You know that is 
excusable, all the tailors do it." 

As conviction more and more pungent seized 
hold of her, she confessed to greater sins. She told 
how she had burned her girl for stealing. Once 
she had stolen a silver coin from a man in the 
bazaar. When God brought it to her mind, she 
took it back to the owner who was greatly sur- 
prised, as the change had been given a year before. 
She also restored a rupee she had taken from us. 
But her most notable case of restitution was to a 
tailor, for whom she had sewed about four years 
previously. She had taken a coat and sold it, un- 
known to the tailor. He had moved forty miles 
away, but she took the train, hunted him up and 
told her errand. When she restored the money she 
gave him more than she received, as she said the 
coat was really worth more. The man was greatly 
astonished, as such things do not often occur in 
a heathen land, and as for that matter, we fear they 
do not often happen in our modern revivals in 
America. 

In the meantime she had put her boy in our 
school; had overcome his objections to eating and 
drinking with our children and had given me the 
right to punish him when disobedient; so he came 
under the same discipline as our famine children. 
This was a source of great grief to his father's rel- 
atives, who felt if the mother could not be pre- 
vented from destroying herself, it was too bad she 
should blast the boy's prospects for this world and 
the next. This only son of a Mohammedan muezzin ! 



82 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

But she kept steadily on her way, sometimes much 
affected by their threats of taking him from her, 
knowing that a woman who becomes a Christian, 
is liable to lose the custody of her children accord- 
ing to Mohemmedan law. This law has also been 
recognized by the British Government in India. 

Previous to her becoming a Christian, she was 
one day at the house of a friend where they were 
performing a ceremony for one who had died forty 
days before. Their customs at such times is to 
read from their sacred books which they suppose 
will help the soul of the departed. While there 
Jaywerbee was asked to take part by reading aloud 
"Nurnama," a life of Mohammed in Arabic poetry. 
This she refused to do, fearing in her heart, as she 
afterwards told us, that it might unsettle her grow- 
ing faith in Christ. Her refusal caused quite a 
commotion among her friends, who became very 
angry and would not eat with her, but gave her 
food in a separate place. 

This was the beginning of her trials. She had 
quite a few household things which had been left 
at a cousin's house. All these they confiscated, not 
giving her a thing. She felt very indignant at them 
for keeping her few books which she prized more 
than all the rest. Among these was a finely bound 
copy of the Koran. Afterwards in speaking about 
the taking of the books she naively said, "When 
they would not give them to me, my heart first got 
so hot and then it got cold." Then she added, "I 
see now why God did not permit me to have them; 
as their influence over me had been very great and 



A TROPHY OF GRACE 83 

I fear they might have turned me again to the 
Mohammedan religion." Not long after this she 
definitely sought and obtained the forgiveness of 
her sins. Her subsequent life and conversation 
showed that God had really changed her heart. 

After her conversion, she often feared to con- 
fess Christ before her Mohammedan friends, which 
troubled her very much. One day a prominent Mo- 
hammedan happened in at our morning prayers. 
Seeing Jaywerbee with her head bowed, and meet- 
ing her soon after in the bazaar, he asked her why 
she did so as no orthodox Moslem would ever do 
thus at Christian worship. She answered him 
evasively and told him it just happened so. Then 
conviction seized upon her for prevaricating, and 
she had a miserable time all day. At night in our 
Hindi meeting she was asked to testify; but as she 
afterwards said, "My lips were shut as tightly as 
if a padlock had fastened them." After the meet- 
ing I heard loud crying in the mission yard and 
went out to see what was the matter. It was Jay- 
werbee praying, with her heart all broken up. She 
confessed what trouble her fear had brought upon 
her and continued to pray until peace came to her 
soul. She had been praying for help on this line 
and ever after she had no fear in confessing Christ 
before every one. Then she went to the Moham- 
medan mentioned above, and confessed how she had 
denied the Lord, and that she was a Christian 
indeed. 

It caused quite a commotion in the Mohamme- 
dan community, as her friends who knew about her 



84 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

conversion had been too chagrined to mention it to 
others. In fact there was talk among her caste 
people of calling an indignation meeting in the 
mosque, and of summoning her to answer for the 
"sin" of forsaking her old religion and professing 
faith in Christ. She was told that her tongue 
ought to be cut out. Threats were made. There 
being comparatively few of her caste in Raj 
Nandgaon, they did not dare to resort to violent 
treatment, but they persecuted her quietly. Jay- 
werbee had been a stanch follower of the false 
prophet ; in fact, a sort of a teacher among her own 
people. She was well informed in many matters 
concerning which most of the women of her class 
were ignorant. Hence it was more of a cross for her 
than for an ordinary native woman to openly ac- 
knowledge Christ. 

Her first public confession of faith in Jesus was 
made in a meeting in the bazaar, one of her hus- 
band's relatives being present. She was much 
blessed at the time. Shortly after this, she wrote 
a letter to her friends telling them of her intention 
to be baptized. She told her cousin, who was her 
daughter's father-in-law, to be a father to her two 
married daughters. She did not expect to see them 
again, as it pained them more to see her than for 
her to stay away from them. She told them she 
loved them all but that she loved Jesus more. The 
first time her boy went to their home after their 
receiving this letter, he was detained, and held for 
some time and all efforts to recover him were futile. 
But God was her helper and in answer to prayer, 



A TKOPHY OF GEACE 85 

a little over three months after, he returned to her 
of his own accord. While he was away and under 
the influence of his relatives, he returned once in 
their company and threw stones at his mother! 

My husband baptized her with eight other con- 
verts, in a pond near the public bazaar, September 
18, 1898, in the presence of many of her acquaint- 
ances and some relatives. In her testimony at the 
time, among other things she said to the people 
present, "I want you to tell all the Mohammedans 
and Hindus everywhere that I intend to live and 
die in this faith." It has been nine years since her 
baptism and thus far she has proved the truth of 
her assertion at that time. 

Her boy also became a Christian. Two years 
after his mother's baptism, he was baptized in the 
same place. The lady in Kansas who was support- 
ing him has gone to her reward, and we believe 
much is due to the efficacy of her prayers for him. 
He is very much changed. From the disobedient, 
big-headed Mohammedan boy, he has become a hum- 
ble, dutiful son, and a real standby in the mission 
where he now is. While once too lafcy to work, he 
is ready for any order, and obeys with a cheerful 
alacrity that gives joy to those who have toiled and 
wept over him. Her daughters are now reconciled to 
their mother and brother becoming Christians ; and 
Jaywerbee has free access into their homes and they 
have desired her prayers for their children when 
they have been ill. They believe one child was 
healed in answer to her prayers. 

She believes in divine healing for the body. One 



86 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

of the first things which led to her becoming a 
Christian, was the healing of one of our orphan 
girls in answer to prayer. The case was so man- 
ifestly the work of the Lord that she never doubted 
it. Very frequently in her testimony she gives God 
the glory for special help in her own body. 

I have spoken of her praying that fear might 
be taken from her heart. After her conversion she 
found other roots of bitterness and as she sought 
for forgiveness of her sins, so she definitely sought 
for deliverance from inbred foes. God heard her 
prayers and she is now a clear witness to the 
cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. 

Notwithstanding her age (over fifty years), she 
applied herself diligently after her baptism to learn 
to read Hindi. In due time she mastered the forty- 
eight letters of the alphabet and now not only 
reads her Bible in that language but also writes 
excellent and legible letters in the same. 

She excels in exhortation and she is never at 
a loss for something to say. We have seen her ex- 
horting a crowd of people on her knees with niucn 
feeling and tears in her eyes. When called upon, 
Jaywerbee is ever ready to speak in the bazaars 
and villages, visit the sick, call on the native 
women, buy anything in the market from a car- 
load of grain to a pinch of salt. We have even 
sent her to a distant town to purchase a buffalo 
for the mission. 

She has prayed and pressed her way through 
severer trials than any I have mentioned, and she 
is a living monument to the power of divine grace. 



CHAPTER IX. 

REMINISCENCES OF OPEN-AIR MISSION WORK IN 
CENTRAL INDIA. 

"Lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land" 

Much of mission work in the Orient is out-of- 
doors; in fact, the greater part of our preaching in 
India is under the blue sky at the daily and weekly 
bazaars, the festivals and fairs, or at the cross- 
roads of a village, the front of a caravansary, or 
perchance beneath the shade of a banyan at the 
neighboring shrine. This last named spot is par- 
excellence. First, because it gives us relief from 
the beating rays of a tropical sun; second, because 
it very often suggests a topic to preach on, as the 
local god stands before us in grotesque and hideous 
proportions, and smeared with red paint. 

Here the people gather and listen, while we 
warn them of God's hatred of sin, and relate the 
old, old story of the cross, often under the frowns 
of the village priest. 

For many years I have been in the habit of 
touring among the villages and have visited many 
parts of Central India to preach the everlasting 
gospel as I had opportunity. We have often 
traveled in country carts, a few times on horse- 

87 



88 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

back, but more commonly afoot. My helpers and 
self can testify that we have realized, at least in 
part, the sweetness of that promise in Isaiah, 
''Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that 
send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass." 

The little humped-shouldered oxen which pull 
our carts are sometimes quite spry, and trot along 
on good Government roads at a speed of four miles 
an hour. On the usual country tracks, rough and 
jagged as they are, two and a half miles is a good 
average rate. These animals are well adapted to 
the rude vehicles of the country, the rugged roads, 
and withal, to the fitful treatment of their driv- 
ers. The latter commonly urge them on by in- 
cessant jabber, much of it abuse emphasized with 
smart blows of a bamboo cudgel. This weapon is 
frequently armed with a sharp spike for goading, 
but in addition the cartmen hunch and kick their 
poor beasts and twist their tails quite out of joint. 

The carts are two-wheeled conveyances, spring- 
less, seatless, cushionless. To ride in them is good 
medicine for a sluggish liver, and by no means so 
uncomfortable as might be supposed, especially 
when there is an awning above and plenty of straw 
beneath. At times we have enjoyed traveling in 
more agreeable carts with springs, and drawn by 
horses or oxen. I have also ridden hundreds of 
miles by rail, but the greater part of our missionary 
touring has been in the vehicles first described, or 
on foot. 

If a town or village is so fortunate as to be on 
or near a Government road, it is comparatively 




VILLAGE TOURING IN CENTRAL INDIA 
"DIFFICULTIES IN THE road" 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 89 

easy of access, but the vast majority are not. Many 
are practically "out of the world" during the rains. 
The country roads are usually narrow with an 
occasional widening to allow teams to pass. To 
give warning, bells are often worn on the necks of 
animals or tied to carts; but frequently the drivers 
are obliged to give notice of their approach by 
shouting, otherwise a blockade may happen. In 
the wet season the tramping of herds of cattle wear 
deep ruts in the loamy soil of some of the roads, 
thereby rendering them when dry, as rough and 
tough to travel on as the corduroys of American 
swamps. We have rolled and pitched sometimes 
when traveling such highways, like a ship in a 
storm. In some parts of the country, rocks also 
abound. I usually get out and walk if there are 
too many. In ascending steep denies or "ploughing 
through" a wash out at a crossing, the cart has to 
be boosted, otherwise the oxen can not pull 
through. It is very evident that such roads are 
severe on vehicles. For example, once in a single 
day's journey through the hill-country where tim- 
ber axletrees are common, I counted no less than 
nine broken axles bj the roadside. 

Such are some of the possible interruptions to 
travel in Central India which missionaries as well 
as others are liable to encounter. I have always 
been amply paid, however, for our efforts to reach 
the villages, as a crowd of natives gathered at the 
temple or rest-house, and listened attentively to 
the message of salvation. 

In the early morning or after the evening meal, 



90 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

is the best time for gathering the people of the agri- 
cultural classes; but as customs vary in India ac- 
cording to caste and locality, we are in the habit 
of holding village meetings whenever and where- 
ever we can call a few together. We sometimes 
have interesting groups of men, women and chil- 
dren in the open courts or verandas of native 
houses. One of the Hindi hymns we frequently 
sing at our open air meetings runs thus: 

"Call on Christ who e'er is near, 
For He destroyeth pain and fear ; 
He saved the world in its time of need ; 
He ever waits to save and feed. 
Put all your trust in Him and live; 
True wisdom, He to all will give; 
He is to sin the deadly foe ; 
He saveth men from sin and woe . 
The weary from Him peace derive; 
'Tis foolish in thy strength to strive. 
O Lord, this seeker saith to Thee, 
'Thou canst from bondage set me free.' " 

A song, a parable, a page of a tract or an illus- 
tration from rural life often suggest a topic for 
our talk, which must be in plain and simple 
language lest they fail to understand. For the 
most part we find the people not only ignorant but 
apathetic. Whatever the attitude of Ethiopia may 
be, we do not find the natives of India as a rule 
"stretching out their hands unto God." However, 
we are not discouraged, and in our meetings we 
have much help from the Lord. Some few generally 
get interested and before the preaching is finished, 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 91 

occasionally respond. "True words that," "Truth, 
oh great Sir," "It is no lie," "It is 16 annas to 
the rupee," (100 cents to the dollar) and more of 
the same sort. A good deal of this is oriental 
politeness, no doubt, but much of it comes from 
honest hearts who are in a measure open to con- 
viction. We are gratified to know when we hear 
these responses, that some are at least waking up 
and taking in the truth. 

Our chief opposition in bazaar and village meet- 
ings comes naturally from the priests and gooroos 
(spiritual guides). A word or a wink from one 
of these fellows has sometimes dispersed my audi- 
ence of Hindus. But their power over the minds 
of the people is gradually waning. Many of the 
common people readily admit to us that their relig- 
ious teachers are after the "fleece" and care little 
for the salvation of the "flock." This gives us an 
opportunity to introduce Christ as the "True 
Gooroo" who really saves from sin and takes no 
pay. Apropos to this theme is a beautiful Marathi 
hymn which we very often sing, of which the fol- 
lowing is a free translation: 

"There is no salvation without a true Gooroo; 
Man's inward pollution can never be cleansed; 
But He to redeem us shall be a load-bearer, 
And deliverance give from the burden of sin. 
He must ever be faultless and merciful too ; 
Infinite in power that all things He may do; 
For many deceivers are in every lane, 
But the key of salvation is in Jesus' name. 
O Christ, Thou alone art the mighty to save; 
On Thee with humility now I believe." 



92 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

In preaching to the heathen some missionaries 
hold that no mention should be made of their gods, 
referring to Exodus 23:13 as a prohibition there- 
from. But the majority do not hold that view, and 
in India especially, we sometimes find it necessary 
to rebuke their gods by name for their sins and 
crimes. On the other hand it seems to me unwise 
to pay much attention to the analogies of Hindu- 
ism, Buddhism, etc., to Christianity, as it is likely 
to foster pride in the hearts of their followers. The 
bulk of the tenets of these pagan systems contra- 
dict not only Revelation, but much of Natural The- 
ology as well, and are so manifestly the inventions 
of the devil, it is seldom wise to quote much from 
their sacred books. In preaching to the Hindus, 
my aim has often been to carry them back to the 
primitive conviction that God is, that he sits on his 
throne, that the decalogue is his law, that man is a 
responsible being, that there is' a heaven for the 
good and a hell for the bad, and finally, that some- 
thing more is necessary to obtain pardon than sor- 
row for wrong doing. All this when cleared of 
the rubbish of ages, gives a good foundation for 
the Gospel. 

In dealing with illiterate natives, misappre- 
hensions are not infrequent. This is not to be 
wondered at. Much of our teaching and preaching 
is not in their line of thinking. They are largely 
unfamiliar with the high-flown language of Scrip- 
ture and our Christian hymns. Then our pronun- 
ciation and idiom is frequently astray; so despite 
our adaptations and best efforts to speak plainly 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 93 

mistakes will happen. These sometimes result in 
the most ridiculous perversions of the truth. For 
example: the Hindi word "jelao" has been mis- 
taken for "jalao." The former means, to raise to 
life; the latter, to burn or cremate. The word 
"saza do/' "punish" has been mistaken for "saja 
do/' "regulate." The command "aram kar," "take 
rest" was understood to mean "Ram Ram kar," 
"worship Ram." And so on ad infinitum. ''Dhoka 
mat khao" "don't be deceived" was made to sound 
in the mouth of one of our missionary colleagues 
like "dukar mat khao" "don't eat pork," and I 
have been laughed at for saying "bai" "lady" when 
I tried to say "bhai" "brother." I will give only 
one more sample of these mistakes to illustrate 
the language difficulties of missionaries and the 
importance of learning to speak correctly. A cer- 
tain zealous lady, a new recruit to Berar where 
both Hindi and Marathi, are spoken, wished to 
start a Sunday School in her mission station. So 
she sent out her cook early on that same day, charg- 
ing him to search diligently and bring to her 
bungalow all the boys he could find. She spoke 
in Marathi and meant to say "mulga" the word in 
that language for "boy." But, alas, to the cook 
it sounded like "murga" the word in Hindi for 
"fowl." This being quite in his line, he scoured 
the country, gathered all he could find and to the 
missionary's dismay, started her in the poultry bus- 
iness instead of inaugurating a Sunday School. 

Some mission workers are inclined to be slip- 
shod in the use of the vernaculars and some pre- 



94 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

maturely rush into teaching and preaching before 
they are at all ready. By so doing, they are apt 
to perpetuate bad grammar and bad pronunciation 
and become established in their errors. On the 
other hand, there are others who are altogether too 
conservative, and spend years poring over their 
grammars and dictionaries before launching out 
into colloquial intercourse with the people, or even 
venturing an exhortation to the common village 
folk. Both extremes are equally bad mistakes. 

In former years my wife often accompanied me 
and greatly helped in village touring; of late years 
I am more frequently assisted in this work by 
native helpers. A country cart is rigged up and 
made as comfortable as possible with straw mat- 
tress, and also a top of bamboo matting. Thus im- 
proved, it serves us fairly well both as a tent and a 
vehicle. One such conveyance which we used for 
touring, was inscribed with scripture texts on the 
outside. 

Our traveling outfit usually consists of a soap 
box full of provisions, a bag of clothing, cooking 
utensils, a water bottle sometimes made of leather, 
and a box of tracts. We sometimes are assisted by 
our cartman, but ordinarily we have to do our own 
cooking. It is not difficult, however, as when tour- 
ing we mainly subsist on the indigenous products 
of the land done up in native style. 

In several of our mission fields, not being able 
to procure native helpers and having no cart, I 
have been obliged to tour alone (but commonly 
with a coolie for my head-load of baggage) and 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 95 

make long journeys afoot. These have been some 
of my most enjoyable tours. A number of them 
were in the hills and valleys of North Berar with 
three adjacent districts of the Central Provinces; 
some in the eastern part of the Central Provinces; 
some in our new District of Yeotmal, and some in 
other parts of India. One journey extended to a 
point one hundred miles distant from our head- 
quarters. In that tour I passed through ninety 
odd villages, and with some help from the Lord, 
preached in twenty of them, distributed tracts, 
gave medicine to seventeen persons. Despite heat, 
malaria, promiscuous drinking water, etc., we 
reached home inside of a month in "good shape," 
having sustained no further loss in wear and tear 
than a little shoe leather. 

In village touring we have sometimes been sup- 
plied with uncooked food by kindly disposed 
natives, who knowing I was a religious teacher, 
refused to take any pay therefor. This has hap- 
pened more frequently when touring afoot. Some- 
times out of respect and friendship, they will even 
bring their "dainties." In which event we have 
to eat them ! But it's all in getting initiated. Food 
often tastes far better than it looks. I remember 
once visiting a village with another missionary, 
when new in the country. The headman brought 
us a lota full of hot buffalo's milk sweetened with 
soft sugar to drink. It was a new "dose" for me, 
boiled in a brass pot, and withal I fancied the smell 
of onions about it. However, I drank my portion, 



96 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

was agreeably surprised and have ever since been 
fond of milk thus prepared. 

To obtain a wholesome drinking water is one 
of the common exigencies of village touring. We 
generally boil it before using, but sometimes this 
is impracticable, and under the pressure of neces- 
sity we are glad to get it as we find it, without 
asking any questions. Once after a long journey 
through the forest in the hot season, where no 
water was to be obtained, I reached a village dry 
and exhausted and asked for a drink at a hut door. 
The condition of the occupant did not appear to 
me at first, but when he handed me the lota of 
water, I noticed he was just recovering from small- 
pox. However, being sorely pressed by thirst, I 
drank it down without hesitation or anxiety about 
"microbes." 

In touring, missionaries are frequently taken 
for Government officers, and so addressed by 
ignorant villagers. This is undesirable, in fact 
sometimes prejudicial. In the back villages, natives 
riding will sometimes dismount and salute us very 
profoundly. This does not so much matter; but to 
have them identify you in their minds, with some 
liquor-drinking, sporting, loose-living officer, with 
whose career they are perhaps too well ac- 
quainted, is disadvantageous indeed. The most 
moral Government officials, especially in the rev- 
enue and police departments, are expected by way 
of courtesy to defend or apologize for the abomin- 
able liquor traffic which is sadly in evidence most 
everywhere we go, which traffic yields a large rev- 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 97 

enue to the government. Opium and ganja also 
bring in money to the British "raj." 

Partly for the above and for various other rea- 
sons, my wife and I adopted the native garb and 
wore it for ten years. Thus attired we visited many 
bazaars, fairs and villages in North Berar. 

One large fair in the Morsi Taluk which we at- 
tended, was held at a shrine by the foot of the 
hills. At that gathering in February, probably 
50,000 people were present during the three days 
of the fair. So far as I know we were the only 
professing Christians there. Hundreds of Hindus, 
Gonds and Korkus heard the Gospel for the first 
time. In addition to our preaching, we sold at that 
one fair 600 Gospels and tracts in the vernaculars. 

We also made tours among the hill people (see 
my "Sketch of the Korkus") and I had for my 
touring companion for some time, the Korku boy 
Loka, whose conversion is mentioned in the 
Memoirs of Louisa Ranf, by Mrs. Freeland. Some 
time after leaving the last named field, we dis- 
continued the native dress, but continued, however, 
to adapt ourselves to the native style of living so 
far as practicable. In explanation of our views in 
this matter, I must refer our readers to the noted 
tract by the Rev. George Bowen, entitled "In what 
style shall we live?" 

During our sojourn in the eastern part of the 
Central Provinces, I made many excursions to 
villages near and remote from our head station. 
Often few tracts are sold or disposed of as the 
people there are the most illiterate of those of any 



98 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

part of India. In my preliminary tour before 
settling there permanently, I was accompanied by 
a young missionary brother who soon after con- 
tracted malarial fever, returned to America and 
died. The following is an extract from my journal, 
of a part of that journey. "February 18. — We ar- 
rived at Raipur by rail three days ago, where, after 
considerable bantering we obtained a country cart 
for our tour. Coming by government road we made 
good time reaching here (Dhamtari) fifty miles 
distant, last evening. — Preached at one village on 
the road, also in the bazaar here to-day. — People 
listened well. — Several dialects are understood. — I 
spoke in Hindi. — Leave to-morrow for Hanker. — We 
are doing our own cooking native style, on stones, 
but have good appetites and are 'happy as larks.' 

"February 20. — After we left D., came by 
country road — passed several villages — forded the 
Mahanad, one of the sacred streams of the Hindus 
— reached Hanker, forty miles from D. about 
noon to-day. — Last night we lodged at a village 
inn or rest house, about half way, sleeping on the 
ground. — One small accident happened. Our glass- 
bottle of ghee broke into a thousand pieces, but we 
saved part of it in another and rejoiced that we 
did not lose it all. We had a good time preaching 
to the Gonds who understand some of our Hindi 
although their own language is quite different. Ar- 
riving here (Hanker) at the capital of a native 
state, the Rajah and his prime minister received 
us grandly and 'the tables are turned.' Instead of 
doing our own cooking, they sent servants to do 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 99 

it, bringing a large brass platter two feet wide 
loaded down with, food, including a chicken. The 
Rajah's fine double tent was also pitched for us in 
a lovely shade and we were supplied with a table, 
beds, chairs and a carpet. 

"February 21. — This morning an immense 
leopard, borne on the shoulders of four men was 
brought to our tent. It was just shot near here, 
in one of the Rajah's forests. Heavy forests abound 
in this territory. — Brother H. and myself were in- 
troduced to the Rajah at his domicile last night. 
He did not have much to say. His majesty and 
ourselves were furnished with chairs, but the 
crowd of seventy-five or one hundred dependents 
either stood up or sat on the floor. Having such a 
fine audience, I improved the opportunity by 
preaching to the Rajah and the assembled listen- 
ers. They gave the best of attention. The former 
was very polite, and in conclusion, offered us per- 
fumery, betelnut and pan leaves, also aromatic 
spices, according to Hindu etiquette. — To-day the 
Rajah signified through, his prime minister, his 
willingness to have us open a mission here, and 
designated a spot for a mission bungalow, should 
we come. 

"This state is one of the 500 or more petty king- 
doms under British protection. Many of them 
are favorable to missions. This little kingdom has 
a population of 75,000. 

"February 23. — Arrived at Abampur to-day. 
The Rajah of K. gave us an escort out of his do- 
minions on account of the danger from wild ani- 



100 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

mals. — Preached at H. yesterday to some thirty 
boys in the Government school, and spent some 
time teaching them the Commandments. This is 
a privilege seldom granted." 

The above extract was written over twelve years 
ago, yet the Native State referred to is still un- 
occupied, and there are many similar unoccupied 
fields in the empire, which are open to missionaries. 



CHAPTER X. 

REMINISCENCES OF OPEN AIR WORK — CONTINUED 

Among the many tours made with our native 
helpers since coming to Yeotmal District over three 
years ago, was one to the southeast corner of Wun 
Taluk. Here near the junction of two large rivers 
is a noted shrine and temple. Among the prom- 
inent deities is a large stone snake called Shesnag. 
It appears like an immense cobra with head erect, 
and represents the king of the serpent race on 
whose folds Vishnu is said to recline, and whose 
head also it is supposed upholds the world. This 
fabulous race of serpents, half human, half divine, 
is believed to inhabit one of the lower regions. 
Some writers on India suggest that this tradition 
may point to the former existence of a class of be- 
ings to which the serpent that tempted Eve may 
have belonged. 

On this journey we visited and preached in vil- 
lages which had most probably never seen a mis- 
sionary before. At one large bazaar where we were 
entire strangers, the people seemed quite interested 
in the message; but when we began to distribute 
tracts, a Brahmin bystander tore one into bits and 
threw it on us. This quite "unhinged" the temper 
of my native helper, who in his haste to have the of- 

101 



102 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

fender brought to justice, got involved in a quarrel, 
and the uproar which ensued about neutralized all 
the good impression made. 

Many years previous to this event, a converted 
Brahmin who accompanied me, while preaching at a 
crowded bazaar, got offended at an officer, who 
cleared the road in front of him. Upon this, he 
gave the officer some abuse. For this offense he was 
afterwards fined thirty rupees on the charge of "re- 
sisting an officer in the discharge of public duty." 

These are samples of some of our trials. Not 
the opposition of the heathen, but the weaknesses of 
our helpers. On the other hand I must testify that 
we have been favored at times with native help of 
quite the opposite kind. In our present field, for 
example, one native preacher who received a re- 
markable baptism of the Holy Spirit last year at 
the revival in Yeotmal has truly assisted me some 
since our coming here. This man is a most devoted 
and humble Christian, keeps a sweet temper in the 
midst of abusive treatment, prevails in prayer and 
preaches in the power of the Spirit. Such helpers 
are rare in India. 

Although we feel more or less the spirit of resist- 
ance to the truth among the natives in bazaar and 
village work, violent opposition is not common. 
There is frequently a bigoted and vicious class in 
the cities who sometimes attack the missionaries 
and their helpers. I was once struck on the head 
and wounded by a stone thrown from behind, and 
my helpers and self have been assailed many times 
by less dangerous missiles in the larger towns and 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 103 

cities, but not in the villages. The chief weapon of 
this band, offensive and defensive, is the tongue; 
and in the wielding of this implement of war the 
natives are adepts. 

The great majority of our listeners in open air 
work are no doubt wayside hearers, but we trust 
we have reason to believe that once in a while, an 
honest seeker after God receives the Word, perhaps 
to the saving of his soul. Such was the case of an 
interesting old Hindu leper who heard our message 
in one village I visited many years ago. He be- 
lieved in Christ and asked to be baptized. When I 
went to his place soon after, I learned he had passed 
away, I trust to be forever with the Lord. Another 
Hindu, a cultivator who had forsaken idolatry, 
heard the Gospel from our lips, and began to pray 
to God in Jesus' name. This he kept up for months 
after we left the station, so we learned from mis- 
sionaries who followed us. A Mohammedan who 
had heard us and other missionaries at Ellichpur, 
followed us some years later to a new station where 
I publicly baptized him under the name of "Yuhan- 
nah" (John). His conduct was exemplary and he 
remained with us for some time. One day when 
we were in need he surprised us with a donation 
of five rupees from his own previous savings, al- 
though we gave him no wages. Being quite intel- 
ligent, having taught in Government schools, he 
had a longing for a theological education. He 
eventually left us and went to another mission in 
hopes of obtaining his desire, but not however 
until he had brought a young Hindu to me whom 



104 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

I also baptized after much instruction. Years 
rolled by and we learned nothing of Y.'s where- 
abouts. A letter of very recent date tells us that 
he is now doing mission work in Baluchistan and 
asks our prayers. 

Since coming to India we have endeavored to 
scatter the good seed of the Kingdom effectually 
by means of Scripture portions and tracts. The 
former are chiefly the four gospels, and the latter 
booklets of an average size, somewhat smaller than 
the Gospel of Mark. We have sold many thousands 
of these in hundreds of towns and villages, fairs, 
bazaars, by the roadside and on the railroad trains, 
besides distributing gratis tens of thousands of 
leaflet tracts. This literature printed in eight 
languages has been scattered over the land. The 
blessing of God has been on this line of effort, for 
I have learned of the conversion of at least one 
native largely through the reading of those tracts, 
who afterwards became a Methodist preacher in 
North India. 

The above cases are mentioned as tokens of en- 
couragement in open-air and wayside mission work 
which have cheered our hearts. Had we no tokens 
at all we ought not to be discouraged nor "slack 
our hands"; as the Word of God distinctly says, 
"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening 
withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not 
whether shall prosper, either this or that, or 
whether both shall be alike good." 

At this juncture of my narrative I must state 
(more especially for the benefit of friends who are 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 105 

somewhat familiar with our movements in the 
land) that while it is true I have baptized about 
140 natives since coming to India, the greater num- 
ber by far, it is fair to say, were not the result 
solely of our own missionary labors ; and the major- 
ity of the converts, too, should be credited to or- 
phanage work and not to open-air evangelism. 

In village touring, accidents sometimes happen, 
and many are the vicissitudes that fall to the aver- 
age missionary in travel. Tip-overs, break-downs 
or collisions are not infrequent. My own cart has 
sometimes stuck in the mud of the black cotton- 
soil of the plains; sometimes a tire gets loose and 
sometimes our animals lie down in the road, pos- 
itively refusing to go any further. Twice I have 
had actual runaways, in one of which my cartman 
was severely hurt. Coming home from one trip 
at night while all were "napping" (cartman in- 
cluded), we were roused from our slumbers by the 
top of the cart catching on the branch of a tree 
and tearing almost completely off before we 
stopped. On another journey our pair of ill- 
trained bullocks suddenly veered to one side in a 
narrow road and caused my head to strike the tiles 
of a native hut. The blow was severe and might 
even have proved fatal, had not the turban on my 
head served as a buffer. 

These are some of the events which help break 
the monotony of a journey and serve to keep us 
awake in a drowsy, tropical climate. Once my wife 
and another lady were traveling through the hills 
in a native cart by a road scarped around steep 



106 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

cliffs. Suddenly they were alarmed and frightened 
by their bullocks suddenly turning and mounting 
the low parapet and coming within an inch or 
two of a yawning precipice! It sometimes hap- 
pens that the cart is drawn by a pair of half-broken 
steers, and the driver a mere tyro. In such case, 
woe to the passengers housed inside should the 
cart take a sudden plunge down a steep bank. On 
a recent trip to a distant town of our present field, 
my cart tipped over and both driver and self were 
thrown down. This accident was purely the fault 
of the cartman, and we providentially received no 
further injury than a few scratches. 

We escaped a more serious predicament some 
four years ago when laboring at Sanjan. One day 
returning home by a narrow road frequented by 
heavily loaded timber carts, we reached the vicinity 
of our mission compound. I bade the orphan boy 
who drove, to get down and go ahead by a foot- 
path so as to reach home sooner, as I intended to 
drive, little dreaming of any trouble. 

After the boy left, and before I got fairly seated 
upon the tongue of the cart where the cartman 
sits, the animals took fright at my large pith sun- 
hat, and bolted full speed. The sudden lurch threw 
me to the ground in front of one of the heavy wheels 
of the cart. I seized the tongue and held on for 
dear life, and although my head was near the heels 
of the oxen, I managed to keep my feet off the 
ground and hang. The cart tore away down the 
road bumping and thumping at a terrible rate! 
It was impossible for me to stop it, as every effort 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 107 

on my part to climb up, only made my oxen more 
wild. I feared to drop lest I should come in con- 
tact with the wheels. This to me, was an alarming 
dilemma! I could do but one thing, and that I 
did. I prayed. Shortly after, as God so ordered, 
the animals slacked their pace. Watching my 
chance I dropped off between the wheels, thus es- 
caping with only my clothes somewhat soiled. The 
oxen still kept on but were caught by a native down 
the road. 

In this unusual experience and safe deliverance, 
I felt to praise and thank God for three things. 
First, that I had sense enough to pray; second, 
that I had strength enough to hold to the tongue; 
third, that no animal, cart, or other serious ob- 
struction was met in the road, for had there been, 
it is quite possible I should not have escaped alive. 

These are a few of the dangers incident to 
Indian travel. But there are perils of other kinds 
especially in the back districts and villages of Cen- 
tral India. Once in the hot season, I became very 
thirsty and went to a village well at dusk. I 
reached out my hand to seize the rope lying on the 
ground. At that instant, a venomous serpent dart- 
ing out from under the rope, crawled away, but 
might easily have bitten me. Another time I went 
out into the fields to pray and happened to kneel 
near a snake's den. Feeling one of these slimy rep- 
tiles crawling along my leg, it made the cold chills 
start, and caused me to bounce up and whirl around 
just in time to see a large serpent escaping into 
its hole. 



108 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

Though often traveling unarmed and alone 
through the forests and jungles where game 
abounded, and running across the tracks of tigers, 
bear and other beasts of prey, it has not been my 
lot to meet any dangerous quadrupeds, except on 
two occasions. The first time I lost my way in a 
forest. Coming suddenly upon a wild boar after 
dark, he half frightened me out of my wits, by 
rousing up and rumbling through the grass at the 
top of his speed. The second, when myself and 
family were going to a hill station, our oxen were 
stopped by bears in the road near a large forest. 
This was at night, and we only succeeded in driv- 
ing them off by ringing a bell, beating tins and 
shouting at the top of our voices. Hyenas, wolves 
and jackals have crossed my path many times, but 
as they seldom attack a man in his strength, they 
are not considered dangerous to travelers. 

In the cold season after the rains have sub- 
sided and the roads dried up, is the time when 
missionaries usually tour and camp among the vil- 
lages. There is perhaps no line of missionary ef- 
fort equal to this for developing the powers of new 
recruits, and enlarging their knowledge of the peo- 
ple, their home life, language, superstitions, etc. 
Every village and most every house among the Hin- 
dus has its idols and shrines. It is common for 
them to argue that as God is up above, and out 
of sight, He has set up the idols as His visible agents 
here below. These are felt to be the proximate 
cause of good and bad luck. The divinities are to be 
conciliated, and to be kept in good humor. Back 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 109 

of all is an impersonal God whom they don't have 
much to fear from. Sometimes a priest will defend 
idolatry by saying that as God is without attri- 
butes and personality and practically unknowable, 
the common people require something tangible to 
worship, which is not so bad logic if the premises 
were true. The common people must be reminded 
again and again that "God is a spirit, and they 
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and 
in truth." 

In defense of idolatry the more clever will use 
the pantheistic argument that as God is every- 
where, He must be in the idols, too, so they become 
proper objects of worship if the worshiper only 
Relieves so. A European traveler, thinking once 
to confound a Hindu pantheist, spoke as follows: 
"Do you mean to assert that God is in the dust 
under my feet?" "Unquestionably," he answered. 
"It then is great impiety for me to tread upon 
God." "Oh, no," said the Hindu, "it is not, because 
God is also in your feet and in your boots, and it 
is no impiety for God to tread upon God." One of 
the most common excuses which I have heard for 
idolatry is put thus : "It is the custom of our fathers 
which has come down to us, and if we neglect to 
worship the gods, then sickness, famine and dis- 
tress will come upon us." To this we reply in sub- 
stance : "It is for this very sin of idolatry the God 
of heaven sends these calamities upon you, to warn 
and to teach you that idolatry is wrong, and that 
you should worship and serve Him alone." 

When all the pros and cons of an argument 



110 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

with the average Hindu are finished, he generally 
falls back on Fate, or to put it as one old man did 
in a village I visited, "You cannot cut short the 
eighty-four." Now what was meant by this curious 
statement? As we have partly shown in a previous 
chapter Fate obliged eighty-four lacs of births be- 
fore the soul can be released from "bondage to 
matter." A lac is 100,000, and the terrible law in- 
volves untold ages of wanderings here and there, 
the thought of which fills many a Hindu mind with 
dreadful forebodings. As for deliverance, or salva- 
tion: while some of the Shasters say the law of 
Fate must run its course, others say that it can 
be shortened; nevertheless the thousand and one 
austerities, penances, pilgrimages, endless rites, 
and ceremonies prescribed and vaguely believed to 
be efficacious to secure "Mukti" (deliverance or 
release), are after all, so impracticable as to make 
it impossible for anyone to meet the conditions. 
Truly this is a religion of despair! 

The Hindus are enveloped in clouds of igno- 
rance, superstition and darkness which only the 
Gospel can dispel. The general feeling of the mass 
of the people is that all things pertaining to the 
nature and destiny of man being run into cast 
iron moulds as it were, there is little hope of any 
change here. This feeling is often expressed in 
their proverbs. Here is one from the Chattisgarhi 
dialect of Hindi: 

"As is the house and doorway, 
Likewise so is the door; 



OPEN AIR MISSION WORK 111 

As is the mother who bore the child, 

So is the child she bore; 
As is a piece of indigo 

Blue and blue to the core; 
Iron never turns to gold, 

Though you may work it o'er; 
They offered up tons of camphor, 

And did even the gods implore, 
But the raven ne'er became a swan 

Not in this age nor before." 

How different the hopeful, soul-reviving out- 
look of the Gospel! "The wilderness and the sol- 
itary place shall be glad for them; and the desert 
shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." "Then the 
eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of 
the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame 
man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb 
sing." "Instead of the thorn shall come the fir 
tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the 
myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, 
for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off." 



CHAPTER XI. 

POVERTY OF THE PEOPLE AND FAMINE REMINISCENCES. 

"And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine 

was very sore, so that the land * * * fainted 

by reason of the famine." 

A dollar means vastly more in poverty-stricken 
India than in luxurious America. There are 
millions of people in this land who are living in 
houses, the whole building outfit of which cost less 
than one dollar. The great majority of families 
are very poor, and millions of them could easily 
subsist on what is ordinarily thrown away by well- 
to-do families in the Occident. 

This is a country where they coin their mills, 
where a one cent meal is all a beggar would ask 
for, and a dime is generally big wages for a laboring 
man per day. To most individuals a double eagle 
would represent the savings of a life time. 

The smallest silver coin which I have ever seen 
is the "chukrani" of Travancore State, worth 
about one cent and not larger than a shirt button; 
but the current value of some of the rude copper 
"dubs" of other Native States — chopped off like 
chunks of taffy, is probably not more than one mill 
in value. In Government coinage one ''pie" (cop- 

112 



FAMINE REMINISCENCES 113 

per) is equal to one-sixth of a cent; and in many 
parts to make change for smaller transactions, the 
people use cowrie shells of which it takes from 
twenty to thirty to make one pie! On account of 
the great ignorance and poverty of the people in 
Ranker State, I saw them using the wild-silk co- 
coons of the forest for money. 

In Chattisgarh we used to employ women and 
children to carry head loads of earth in baskets 
at five shells a load. They were glad to get work 
at that rate to "fill their stomachs." At this job, 
they could earn about three cents a day. Low 
wages that! but they never struck for higher, al- 
though they asked for more. They knew it was 
either that or nothing and went to work content- 
edly. Ordinarily the wants of that class of people 
are few; and during fair times in that part of the 
country three cents would purchase four pounds 
of cheap red rice and a handful of vegetables with 
enough salt to season. 

From Government reports gathered over ten 
years ago it appears that the average annual in- 
come of the people of India was about $10 ; whereas 
in Turkey it was about $20, in Russia $30, in Eng- 
land $165 and in the United States $200. So far 
as this country is concerned it has probably not 
improved, as in the interim we have had two of the 
worst famines India has ever seen. Taking the 
country as a whole, the average wages of a coolie 
man is about six cents a day (when he gets work) 
and of a woman four, while skilled labor realizes 
from twenty cents to thirty cents. 



114 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

The average size of a farm in India is said to 
be five acres. On account of the imperfect methods 
of cultivation, taxes, heathen customs, etc., the act- 
ual profit to the poor farmer is very small. In 
fact Lord Curzon in 1902 estimated the average in- 
come of the Indian agriculturist at not quite one 
penny a day. Sir Charles Elliot writes, "I do not 
hesitate to say that half our agricultural popula- 
tion never know from year's end to year's end what 
it is to have their hunger satisfied." Sir William 
Hunter says that "there are always about forty 
million of the people of India who never have a 
full stomach except in a good mango year." This 
means but two months out of twenty-four, and 
these periods of stress bear heavily on the rural 
population of Bengal, Central Provinces and the 
intervening territory. 

Some of our readers may ask, "Why don't the 
distressed farmers of India sell out and go west?" 
Ostensibly for two reasons: First, they are too 
heavily mortgaged and have little or nothing to 
sell out; second, there is no congenial West where 
they may migrate. If these obstacles were removed 
there are also other reasons, chiefly caste. Of these 
I will not speak now. 

In the past ten years besides small local famines 
there have been two large ones which carried off 
some twenty million people. The ravages of these 
famines and the distress of the inhabitants was 
most terrible in Gujerat and the Central Provinces. 
The Government at one time was feeding no less 
than four million people daily at vast expense. 



FAMINE REMINISCENCES 115 

Yet the credit of the nation was not seriously dis- 
turbed, as the average wants of the famine suffer- 
ers were small. In that part of the country where 
we were laboring during the famine times, the Gov- 
ernment opened poorhouses and "kitchens" where 
cooked food was distributed once a day to the in- 
firm and helpless. Those able to work were put 
to road making, breaking stone, excavating tanks, 
etc., at the following scale of wages: three cents a 
day for a man, two and one-half for a woman, and 
one and one-half for a child; all this when red rice, 
the staple food, was one and seven-ninths of a cent 
a pound. When rice went up their wages were in- 
creased accordingly; but they were not decreased 
when it went down. At the above rate of wages 
and current price of grain, one man could thus 
only earn about 1 lb. 11 oz. of rice a day, whereas 
the convicts in the provincial jail at Nagpur are 
each allowed two pounds daily solid food including 
flour, peas, or beans, vegetables, oil, salt and con- 
diments, and their rations are never divided to 
feed some one else. As to the amount of work to 
be performed it was stipulated that a man, when 
on stone work, should break six cubic feet of road 
metal per day, a woman four feet and a child some- 
thing else; but in this work, the man's wages were 
increased to three and one-half cents. 

Thus provided for, thousands were tided over 
the famine. But alas, thousands more arrived too 
late! It was thought the last famine of 1900 af- 
fected seventy million of the inhabitants of India. 
The former perhaps as many, but it was most severe 



116 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

in the Central Provinces. Living so near the verge 
of starvation even in favorable times, it was not 
strange when famine overtook them, that thousands 
should be swept off like sheep, and more especially 
the agricultural classes, who were generally the 
last to beg. 

On account of the large army of religious and 
professional beggars who always have to be looked 
after (there are no vagrant laws in India for na- 
tives), the Government was slow to offer relief un- 
til there was evidently distress among the culti- 
vators. At our mission station during that period, 
we were in the habit of giving alms once a week to 
a large number of the beggars who existed in the 
neighborhood; but when the crowd increased, we 
bought cart loads of grain and distributed it by 
handfuls daily to the people. Not only grain, but 
the dried blossoms of the mhowa tree, an article 
of diet among the poor, were given out. At first 
we caused the needy to sit in line and charged them 
to remain till all were served. This plan worked 
well for a while, but in a short time they grew 
desperate, broke line, besieged and besought the dis- 
tributors for more. At such times we had to use 
force to keep back the lawless and bring them under 
control. Often the more reckless rushed beyond 
bounds and rudely snatched grain from one an- 
other and from our baskets as well. 

Alas! these terrible famines not only turned the 
people into madmen, but into ravening wolves! 
After some weeks we cooked a substantial meal of 
rice and pulse and fed a limited number inside our 




A FAMINE EXPEDIENT 



FAMINE KEMINISCENCES 117 

mission compound once a day, sorting out the most 
needy and giving them tin tags to wear. We often 
had a desperate time holding back the crowd when 
the gate was opened to let in the selected ones. 
Although the servants watched, it did not prevent 
a poor wretch now and then scaling the fence or 
crawling beneath. Then the tin tags were fre- 
quently torn off from the weak or wrenched out 
of their hands. We could not always rectify these 
cases of injustice though we endeavored so to do; 
neither could we always tell the real state of the 
famine subjects who were fed on the compound* 
Some went away and died perhaps from the effects 
of the hearty meal their weak stomachs were un- 
able to bear. One poor fellow I remember lay 
down and died in the place alloted to him at the 
meal. 

We were for months amidst the dead and dying. 
Some coming to beg during the night lay down in 
front of our gate and were found dead in the morn- 
ing. They were tied hands and feet together, slung 
on a pole and carried off to be buried like dogs by 
the scavengers. A woman of the Mahar caste died 
near our mission house and her children, a boy and 
girl in the orphanage, conveyed her as above and 
buried her themselves. I often saw the scavengers 
at work in the potter's field behind the almshouse. 

One morning a ghastly sight met my gaze. 
Seven corpses with distorted limbs and features 
were interred in one great hole! But these were 
not all the gruesome sights in that vicinity. It was 
near the road to villages which I visited, and many 



118 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

skulls and scraps of human beings were scattered 
over the fields. These had been eaten by hyenas 
and other beastly ghouls which infest the graves 
at night and drag out the recent dead. Such sights 
were not uncommon in the famine fields. 

One missionary in the district next to ours went 
out one day and gathered twenty-one skulls of un- 
buried victims, in the space of ten minutes; while 
a missionary in another district saw fifty unburied 
corpses in half a day's journey through his terri- 
tory! 

"They cry to gods of wood and stone, 
Alas! no help is there! 
In heathen gloom and darkness wrapped, 
They sink in dire despair. 

"Alone along the road they lie, 
With none t® watch or care! 
While vultures grim and jackals fierce 
Wait to devour them there." 

"Gaunt forms and bony, outstretched hands, 
Wild eyes with hungry glare, 
Awhile in hopeless anguish plead, 
And then — the dead are there." 

When grain was half a cent a pound, most of 
the poor could eke out a living, but when it ran up 
to two cents and more, grain dealers got rich quick, 
while the small farmers soon came to an end of 
their means. After selling off their stock, plows, 
wooden tools, hand mills, cots and brass pots they 
had practically nothing left but their huts. And 
many of these were unroofed and the timber sold. 



FAMINE REMINISCENCES 119 

These dismantled, villages were abandoned and 
sometimes looked as though swept by fire. Neigh- 
bors and families gradually separated and wan- 
dered here and there in search of food. When re- 
duced to the extremities of famine, caste rules were 
almost forgotten and its rigid laws indeed became 
quite flexible. 

In times of scarcity before, I had seen poor 
women washing out, to eat, the undigested grain 
in the ordure of cattle; but in famine times they 
picked up bits of food in the filthy garbage of 
towns. Many ate the wild pods of the forest which 
I dare say, were far less edible than the "husks" 
of the "prodigal son," and multitudes of others 
to stay the cravings of hunger, brought grass seed, 
roots and the leaves, bark and fiber of trees into 
requisition, while the dregs of our bran-coffee was, 
to them, a luxury. They might have killed some 
of the superfluous cows which abounded in many 
parts and subsisted for a while. This, however, the 
Hindus would not do. Even the cattle, after a time 
for want of fodder, dropped dead on the parched 
plains by thousands, and were quickly disposed of 
by the jackals, dogs, vultures and crows. 

The sweep of these mighty famines was not un- 
like the ravages of destroying armies which bring 
down men and beasts alike to the sod and leave a 
track of desolation behind. Then the bones were 
gathered up. It was a rich harvest time for the 
bonepickers as well as corn merchants and grave 
diggers, and even the bleaching remains of human 
beings were not spared! Men's bones, bullock's 



120 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

bones, horse's bones — the skulls, ribs and humeri 
of men, jumbled up with the shanks, horns and 
hoofs of cattle. I saw them dumped in great heaps 
near the station, to be loaded on the trains andj 
shipped away to fertilize the soil of other lands. 

Such was the final end, so far as this world is 
concerned, of multitudes of the inhabitants of hun- 
dreds of villages throughout the land. 

I shall write briefly of the help rendered to 
the famine stricken in their suffering and distress. 
The Government Relief Work has already been 
mentioned. It was in the main a wise and system- 
atic distribution on a huge scale. Thousands of 
distributors were required, and although no doubt 
many of them proved unfaithful to their trust, the 
Government did its best under the circumstances, 
and sought so far as possible to secure mission- 
aries as overseers where they were willing to serve. 

During those times we received several thou- 
sand dollars for famine relief, mostly from kind 
friends in America, besides numerous boxes of 
clothing, etc. Other missions all over the famine 
area received large sums from abroad, opened 
"Kitchens" and relief works of various kinds, and 
founded orphanges, whereby tens of thousands 
were carried through the famine. Just how many, 
it is impossible to tell. 

So far as the orphan rescue work is concerned, 
it is reported that some time after the close of the 
last great famine, there were 25,000 children in 
the various orphanages. This was most probably 
but fifty per cent of the number they actually took 



FAMINE KEMINISCENCES 121 

in, as the mortality was very great, and many were 
restored to their friends. 

Among the larger efforts for famine relief out- 
side of the Government, the "Mansion House Fund" 
may be mentioned. This amounted to several mil- 
lion dollars and was I think mostly applied in re- 
storing cultivators to their farms, supplying oxen, 
plows and seed-grain. Concerning local help, it 
is a gloomy fact, that aside from a number of ra- 
jahs who followed the example set by the Govern- 
ment, comparatively few natives of wealth gave 
anything at all commensurate to their ability, for 
famine relief. 



CHAPTER XII. 

EXPERIENCES IN FAMINE ORPHAN WORK. 

"We are orphans and fatherless, and our mothers 
are as ividoivs" 

PHEBE E. WARD. 

"Dai wo!" "Dai wo!" rang out on the still air 
of a sultry day in the hot season of 1897. The mis- 
sionary inside the little native house had just 
quieted the orphan children, and had betaken her 
self to rest at the noontide hour on the cool sur- 
face of the ground, with a gunny bag and straw 
pillow for bedding. The cry repeated, sometimes 
with a low moan and again louder in its intensity, 
warns the missionary inside that there is no rest 
for her until she responds to this call. And what 
does it mean? Simply, "Oh, mother!" in the native 
tongue, but sounding like "die" and "woe" in ours, 
the sound was most significant, for in those terrible 
famine days, death and woe stared the people in 
the face. 

When the missionary went out, she found a poor 
woman with a little child whom she offered to 
sell for a mere pittance. Finding she could not 
sell it, she willingly gave it away to the lady to 

122 



FAMINE ORPHAN WORK 123 

feed and save its life. But this was not the only 
time the cry was heard around that humble mission 
home! It had become familiar to the ears of the 
missionaries living there, for months previous and 
continued to be for months to come. 

Thus I introduce to our readers a narrative of 
some of the never-to-be-forgotten events of the 
famine rescue work of ten years ago. 

For some weeks previous to the above incident, 
notice had been given that all applicants for famine 
relief must come before noon, as that was our rest 
hour; but new cases from distant towns kept con- 
stantly coming with their doleful cry of "Dai wo!" 
and we learned that the easiest way to quiet them 
was to answer their call, and give them a handful 
of grain. 

At the beginning of the famine we had not 
planned to found an orphanage. My husband de- 
clared I was doing all I was able, and the care of 
orphan children would be too heavy a burden. One 
day it so happened that a poor Hindu woman came 
with her two-year-old baby boy, begging for relief 
and urging me to take the child. We were rather 
reluctant at first to do so, though I inwardly de- 
sired we might, and prayed in my heart that God 
would incline the mother to leave the child if it 
was His will for us to take it. This she did, and 
then I said to my husband, "Now the child is here 
and I don't see what we can do but take care ofi 
him." He was a sweet child. We named him Sun- 
tosh which means "content," and he became the de- 
light of the mission for ten short months, when 



124 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

he died in my bed beside me. How we loved him! 
He could say nothing when he came, but when the 
blessing on the food was asked, he would clasp his 
little hands and nod at the word "Amen," as much 
as to say, "I would say it if I could." Poor little 
tot! When he came his backbone was coming 
through the skin, and like so many famine sub- 
jects which we helped, his stomach was fearfully 
swollen. 

When the police learned we were ready to take 
in famine waifs, they brought some friendless chil- 
dren from the neighboring towns. One day they 
came with a little child that had been badly treated. 
Feet and limbs were swollen and she cried from 
pain when trying to stand. One ear was pierced, 
with a piece of wood in it to make the hole larger, 
and was sore and swollen. A string of dirty black 
beads was round her neck and eleven glass brace- 
lets on her wrists. I did enjoy getting these marks 
of heathenism off from this child, as well as the 
dirt and grime. But the saddest discovery were 
the wounds on her body. Two rows across her 
back, and a circle around each knee. Fifty-three 
marks in all! These they told us, were probably 
inflicted to help her stand! This cauterizing with 
a red hot sickle is a common but most barbarous 
practise, and is thought to be a counter-irritant for 
pain. Alas! "The tender mercies of the wicked are 
cruel." A dress which our Bessie wore when she 
was born, just fitted his three-year-old girl. The 
poor, thin arms! 

One girl seven years old had bracelets measur- 



FAMINE ORPHAN WORK 125 

ing only one and one-fourth inches in diameter, 
which slipped off her hands easily. From time to 
time, hundreds of these glass and lacquer brace- 
lets were removed from the waifs and were taken 
to America as mementoes of the famine. 

A mother died near our house under a tree, 
soon after we began taking in the children. I 
hunted two days for the child she left, and found 
her naked and desolate. My heart was stirred 
thinking of her mother dying so near our door. 
(Such things became familiar later on.) I was 
never so thankful before for the gifts that helped 
us to rescue the children, as I was that night when 
I bathed that child and heard her clear, ringing 
laugh as I dressed her in clean clothes. Such glee 
was an exception to the usual gloomy feeling of 
the children when they first came. 

A sorry looking child stood before our door one 
day, with a ragged, dirty cloth thrown over her head. 
Both cheeks had been deeply burned in four places 
with a hot iron. One cheek was very sore. She 
said her own mother did it because she had stolen 
some rice gruel from her. 

Many and diverse were the ways the children 
came to us. One woman brought a boy four years 
old, in a basket on her head from a village eight 
miles away. Some were brought in slings fastened 
to poles over men's shoulders. We found a boy by 
our front gate in a state of collapse. We sat with 
him through the night, giving him a spoonful of/ 
milk every half hour, although having no hope of 
his recovery. His was a remarkable case. Al- 



126 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

though his backbone was visible from in front, yet 
he is alive, strong and well to-day. 

Parties of two, three, and sometimes half a 
dozen were seen straggling up our front walk at 
all hours of the day. The memory of those walk- 
ing skeletons lives with me still. Those terrible 
scenes of distress were so constantly before my 
mind, that I once found myself in my sleep, search- 
ind under my bed for naked children. 

One little girl led a precarious life in Raj Nand- 
gaon even before the famine. Her mother died 
when she was a baby, leaving three children to 
shift for themselves. After a time the elder sister 
obtained work at three cents a day and they were 
able to "keep house" and have "regular meals." 
This was not altogether impossible during prosper- 
ous times when rice was half a cent a pound, and 
clothing, shelter and fuel cost next to nothing. But 
when rice quadrupled in price and beggars multi- 
plied by the thousand, it became a serious matter 
and the little one was given to us. One boy was 
found in an open box car, left by his friends to 
die, or to be eaten by wild animals which abounded 
in that region. 

We had to shave the head of every child that 
came on account of vermin, and our own four year 
old Louisa had to share the same fare with the 
others as her mother was too busy to keep her head 
clean. During the hot season, we let her stay in 
the Government rest bungalow with friends for a 
little while. I missed the precious laughing face 
at night, but as I was so busy with those who were 




A DOMESTIC SCENE IN INDIA 



FAMINE ORPHAN WORK 127 

as precious to our Father, I had no time to feel 
lonely. While we had so many children in our 
charge at that time, yet we did not have one of 
our own, our other daughters Ethel and Bessie be- 
ing in America. 

A little girl about the age of Louisa had such 
a sad story. When she told it, she would begin 
with a quiver in her voice which increased as she 
went on and by the time she would speak of her 
mother, she was sobbing aloud. They had been 
well-to-do farmers. Her father died first, then her 
baby brother and last of all her mother, two days 
before we took her in. The first few days she came, 
it was so pitiful to see her just at evening, sit by 
herself and cry, "O mother, mother!" When our 
little girl had the cholera, this child felt so badly. 
She ever after evinced a very strong attachment 
to her white-faced playmate of those trying days. 

There was a touching case of a man dying of 
starvation, leaving a widow with seven boys, three 
of whom died soon after. The mother's heart clung 
to her eldest and youngest, but she gave the two 
others to us. Then the famine pressing harder upon 
her, she thought us her tworyear-old baby. In a 
few days, with heart-rending cries, she left her last, 
the eldest. Her thin body showed how she had de- 
nied herself to keep her dear ones alive. In a little 
while she died. Despite all our care, the lives of 
those four boys went out one by one. I sit here 
now, after the lapse of these years, crying as I 
think about them. 

Thus death, like a gaunt fiend, kept snatching 



128 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

from our arms such beautiful, promising children. 
Famine dysentery claimed most of the victims. I 
have spoken of my husband and child having the 
cholera. That disease, too, carried off a number and 
we had to battle with small-pox. Worms were also 
a frequent cause of death, some of the children 
even vomiting them up, six and eight inches long; 
while another disease bred them in the mouth. IX 
was a comfort sometimes to see the little ones re- 
leased from the awful suffering they had to endure. 
Many who came to us were so completely enervated 
by starvation and desultory feeding, that notwith- 
standing the best of care, with regular and careful 
feeding for months, they failed to recover. 

It always took two or three months to satisfy 
them with food. They would look with longing 
eyes at it, even though they had just finished a good 
meal. They were adepts at picking up every kernel 
of grain that fell. It was hard to see them crying 
for food, and they could not understand our kind- 
ness when keeping it from them. They all looked 
so hopeless at first, but after shaving their heads, 
(a barber was kept busy those days) bathing and 
clothing them, and the warm loving atmosphere of 
the Home about them, they blossomed out into such 
different looking children. When they came, they 
were sick, undisciplined, untrained, sometimes with 
dreadful sores, with only one absorbing thought, 
i. e., to get all they wanted to eat. The meal time 
was the most interesting of all hours to them. 
When the dinner bell rang, smiles would ripple 
over their faces and often deepen into laughter. 



FAMINE ORPHAN WORK 129 

We had one singular exception, however. A 
boy of about sixteen years had been with us for 
some time, whose taste had become so perverted be- 
fore he came, that he finally began leaving his 
good food and despite our entreaties, would per- 
sist in eating gravel ! Of course we could not save 
him and he died. This is not an isolated case, for 
a missionary told us that a woman retained the 
habit of eating dirt for some years after the fam- 
ine of 1877. 

It took a long time for most of the children after 
they came, to pick up energy enough to play a game 
of ball. Sighs and gloomy looks would sometimes 
hail its advent when we brought out one to play with. 
When strength and health began to return, the 
children were transformed from seemingly pre- 
mature old men and women to blithesome youths. 

Rules were adopted and constant vigilance was 
necessary to see there was no infringement on them. 
We believed in Solomon's advice and resorted to 
it when needed. The list of "don'ts" were very 
large. It might be of interest to note some of them : 

Don't pick up and eat any parings, raw grain, etc. 
Don't eat any stale food without permission. 
Don't yell or shout when the dinner bell rings. 
Don't throw dishes about in confusion. 
Don't hang around when food is being served. 
Don't eat the food left by another child. 
Don't go in the cook house without orders. 
Don't sit down in the path to scour your teeth with 
charcoal. 

Don't scatter grain or tread it down. 

Don't make an uproar when gathering for prayers. 



130 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

Don't throw bedding around the room on rising. 
Don't lie down in the dirt with clean clothes on. 
Don't drop down anywhere, but sleep in rows. 
Don't go on the outside of the fence. 

When we began the work, we gave each child 
one mud dish (costing one-fourth of a cent), one 
gunny bag for a bed, one cotton sheet in warm 
weather and a woolen blanket in cold, for a cover- 
ing. They needed no knives or forks as they ate 
with their fingers. They were happy and contented 
with this outfit. 

The well-filled boxes from America and Eng- 
land, that came from time to time were sources of 
great encouragement to us; and the self-denial of 
friends who helped us in the work was a real in- 
spiration and blessing. Their gifts enabled us to 
put up a good bungalow commensurate with the 
needs of the work, and other buildings which were 
required. We praise the Lord for the privilege of 
rescuing about 600, although we never had more 
than about 100 to care for at one time. Of these 
perhaps 275 died. Some were taken by their rela- 
tives. Some ran away and others were taken by 
missionaries to Yeotmal, Bombay, Jagdalpur and 
Peshawar. Our mission was a sort of receiving 
station; and beside these children, others were 
gathered in and carried away by missionaries. 

We also praise God that He not only gave money 
for the work, but also health and strength to carry 
it on. I was not ill one day during all those 
months, and I magnify the Lord for His keeping 
power, for truly, it was all of grace. 



FAMINE ORPHAN WORK 131 

We endeavored to train the children to fill some 
place in God's great field of service. Although we 
felt that special work some years ago, we have since 
had the satisfaction of seeing carpenters, laun- 
dresses, cooks, tailors, teachers, and best of all, 
catechists and Bible women from among them. 
Not a few quickly drank in religious instruction. 

One boy began early to show signs of a promis- 
ing character. He was so faithful in secret prayer. 
I remember going out one night in the boy's dor- 
mitory, and there, amid the noise and confusion, I 
saw two boys off in a corner by themselves pray- 
ing. They did not notice my coming in or going 
out. I heard this boy say, "Thou hast shed Thy blood 
to save us." He is now in glory, singing the song 
of which he first learned the key note in our mis- 
sion home. He was especially bright at his books, 
loving in his nature, and unusually receptive of di- 
vine truths. Before he died he helped much in vil- 
lage preaching. We mourned his early death but 
rejoice in the thought that he has safely reached 
his heavenly home. 

While I am writing this article, one of the girls 
given to the Yeotmal Mission, who is developing 
nicely, is accompanying one of our lady mission- 
aries as a Bible woman, and telling the story of 
Jesus and His love to her own people. 

And now, notwithstanding all the trouble, toils, 
tears, burdens and heartaches borne through those 
weary months, we feel it more than pays, in the 
prospect and promise for the enlargement of the 
kingdom of God which these rescued orphans give. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A MISSIONARY HERITAGE IN THE GREAT HEART OF 
INDIA. 

"The field ivhen it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy 
unto the Lord." 

In the occupation of mission fields which is rap- 
idly taking place in this vast empire, an important 
and needy territory in the providence of God has 
fallen to the American Free Methodist church to 
evangelize. It is known as the old Wun District 
of Berar. In area it is one-half of the size of the 
State of New Jersey and has a population of about 
half a million souls. 

Berar has recently become one of the Central 
Provinces, and the Wun District is absorbed in the 
new and enlarged "District of Yeotmal." This mis- 
sion field however remains as it was. It lies for 
the most part within the 20th and 21st parallels 
of North latitude and is divided into four taluks 
or counties. 

The general aspect of the country is diversified 
by hills, open plains, forests and cultivated fields. 
Aside from the two rivers Wurdah and Pengunga, 
which form the eastern and southern boundaries 
respectively, the district is well watered by smaller 

132 



A MISSIONARY HERITAGE 133 

streams. But of these many run dry in the hot 
season. The average rainfall is forty-one inches, 
while the temperature ranges from 45 to 112 de- 
grees Fahrenheit. 

The soil is fertile in the plains and river val- 
leys but somewhat barren on the hills. The latter 
are more or less covered with timber, grass and 
undergrowth and furnish pasturage for immense 
flocks and herds of goats, sheep and cattle, includ- 
ing the tame buffalo. Of the whole area of the old 
Wun District (3909 square miles), 2,557 square 
miles are classed as cultivated, 242 as tillable and 
1,110 as not cultivated. The average number of 
acres of cultivated land to each inhabitant is three 
and one-half, but the farms probably average fifteen 
to twenty acres in size. 

Two crops, autumnal and spring, are harvested 
during the year. Not on the same fields, however, 
unless irrigation is practised. Among the principal 
crops are cotton, great millet, wheat, gram, linseed, 
pigeon pea and sesame. Among the less important 
are spiked millet, lentiles, beans, rice, tobacco and 
hemp. There are a score or more of reserved forests 
in the district which yield timber, bamboos, gall 
nuts, mhowa fruit, etc. 

The cotton of this part of India is of a superior 
quality and when the crop is good, brings large 
returns to the farmers. The ginning and pressing 
of cotton by machinery is an industry which has 
grown rapidly of late years. When I first visited 
this district over twenty-five years ago, there were 
no mills to be seen. Now there are twenty-two 



134 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

steam gins and presses, including fourteen at Yeot- 
mal, which annually turn out thousands of bales 
of cotton. 

The usual method of irrigating land in Berar is 
by means of a leathern bag holding a barrel of 
water, which when filled resembles the bowl of a 
Dutch pipe. It is filled and hauled out of the well 
by bullock power applied to a rope and pulleys. 
On reaching the top of the well, the water is al- 
lowed to flow out of an opening in the lower end 
of the bag, and through a channel to the garden 
watered. An apparatus of this kind is on the mis- 
sion compound of the boys' orphanage at Yeotmal 
where both European and native vegetables are 
raised, and several kinds of fruit. In many places 
by the aid of irrigation in this manner, sugar-cane, 
betel leaves, bananas, guavas, limes, oranges, papai, 
sweet potatoes, egg plants and many other kinds 
of vegetables and fruits are profitably grown. 

The general methods of agriculture in the dis- 
trict are still quite ancient. I have heard that there 
were 6,000 models of plows in the United States 
patent office, whereas here in India, the primitive 
implements of Abraham's day are still in use. In 
this part of the country they employ a heavy 
wooden plow shaped like the keel of a boat running 
to a point, on which is placed an iron shoe, or 
otherwise a sharp iron bar is fastened beneath. 
This tool is used for breaking up the ground, but 
does little else than scratch a groove two or three 
inches deep. 

The other form of plow commonly used, bears 



A 'MISSIONARY HERITAGE 135 

some resemblance to the American cultivator, but 
has a simple straight-edged iron share. It serves 
to drag the weeds out when not deeply rooted, and 
to scarify the soil. 

Sowing is generally done in drills by women or 
boys who use a hollow bamboo, funnel-shaped at 
one end. This tube is connected to the plow by a 
string. It is held in place and fed from an apron 
full of grain by a woman who follows behind. 
Sometimes the outlet of the bamboo gets clogged 
with earth; in which event, until discovered, the 
drill remains unsowed. With such agricultural 
shifts, together with often ill-trained oxen, few, 
drills are geometrical lines. Women do the largest 
part of the weeding, using a rude kind of a hand- 
sickle to help oust the roots. When crops are ma- 
turing, some kinds require watching, hence it is 
common to erect lodges or temporary staging in 
the fields, of long poles tied together with thongs. 
Above, the watcher sits, under a grass thatch or 
shelter of leaves, and keeps a sharp lookout for 
enemies of the crop. These he frightens away by 
wild, weird, uncivilized chanting, unearthly yells 
and the cracking of whips. An occasional stone is 
also thrown from a sling to drive out intruders. 
Deer, monkeys, wild pigs, porcupines and a great 
variety of birds do the most damage to crops in 
this part of India. 

In eastern Central Province I have seen these 
platforms elevated twelve or fifteen feet, for fear 
of tigers and other beasts dangerous to man. In 
most places it means "eternal vigilance" to pre- 



136 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

serve certain important crops, otherwise the poor 
cultivator gets little else than straw for his pains. 
Crops are reaped by hand. The grain is then 
threshed out by flail; or as in ancient times, by 
oxen, ten or more abreast, winding about a post 
and treading the sheaves under their feet. Im- 
proved American plows, reapers and threshers are 
not yet dreamed of in this "Land of the Veda," but 
the patient ox and the male buffalo, together with 
the aforenamed implements and a large mattock, 
wooden forks and spuds are still the beasts and 
tools of agriculture. The two-wheeled carts in use 
are of all sizes, from those scarcely larger than a 
baby carriage, to others having ponderous wheels 
which are half a load for a yoke of steers. 

There is usually a herd of buffaloes in every 
well-to-do village in the district on which they de- 
pend for the milk supply. This animal (Bos Babu- 
lus) has no resemblance to its American namesake, 
and does not breed with the ox family. It is an un- 
gainly looking beast, having a blackish drab colored 
hide, almost hairless and tough as India rubber. 
Its horns usually curve downwards and backwards 
from the ears, and sometimes reach four feet in 
length. It is exceedingly tame and even in the 
streets of Bombay, is apparently as demure and 
unconcerned as a Yogee. Above all else it delights 
like swine to wallow in mud or muddy water. 
Often it may be seen immersed for hours in a pond 
with only its nose sticking out. 

The forests of the district abound in game such 
as bison, deer, wild hog, hare and pea-fowl ; besides 



A MISSIONARY HERITAGE 137 

beasts of prey, are also the panther, hyena, the 
bear, wolf and an occasional tiger. I recently saw 
three varieties of deer while passing through the 
open forest in a cart. 

The staple food of the majority of the inhab- 
itants of the district is jowari bread (a species of 
millet or sorghum something like that grown in 
America; also called kaffir corn). It is similar to 
the "hoe-cake" of the negroes of the Southern 
States, but not leavened. This crop yields thirty to 
one hundredfold and even more on good soil in 
most parts of India, where the rainfall is not ex- 
cessively heavy. The bread is of course flour mixed 
with water and salt and cooked on a frying pan. 
It is very nutritious and is usually eaten with thick 
soup of various kinds of pulse, or with stews of 
coarse vegetables, all highly seasoned with condi- 
ments. Among the better classes wheaten cakes 
are preferred, and the well-to-do natives eat rice, 
curds, ghee and sweetmeats. On the ponds about 
Wun are raised "water-chestnuts" which are boiled 
and much eaten by the poorer classes after the 
rains. They grow on the top of the water and are 
gathered by fisherman in their canoes. Meat is 
eaten by a few Hindus of the medium castes, all of 
the lower castes, the Mohammedans and the abo- 
riginal tribes. 

The inhabitants of the Wun District for the 
most part are Hindus of various classes. Marathi 
is spoken by a little over two-thirds of the popu- 
lation, and it is the official language and the one 
taught in nearly all the schools. It is the most 



138 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

rugged of all the vernaculars, is sometimes called 
the "German of India," and stands as a fair index 
to the comparatively sturdy character of the peo- 
ple who speak it. The original bold and war-like 
traits of the Mahrattas is proverbial. This race 
of Hindus first came into historical notice in the 
seventeenth century when Siwaji arose to check the 
rising tide of the Moghul power in Central India 
and the Deccan. In those unsettled times bands of 
Mahratta freebooters used to sweep down on the 
villages of the plains, plunder the rich, and retire 
to their strongholds in the mountains. 

Many of these castle-like retreats are to be found 
in Central and Western India. Two of them which 
I have visited, Aseergarh and Gawilgarh, are veri- 
table Gibraltars of strength. The latter is built on 
a high hill in North Berar. It is constructed of 
solid blocks of trap-rock with high walls, massive 
bastions and gateways. Inside the fort are ruins 
of temples, underground chambers and cells. Curi- 
ous old guns still remain, with huge balls for siege 
hewn out of the rock. One gun, thirty feet in 
length, was made by welding bars of iron, and bind- 
ing the same with heavy rings like the hoops of a 
barrel. In time these robber chiefs became rajahs 
or kings, and had their separate territories. They 
warred among themselves, but sometimes combined 
and resisted the Mohammedan rulers from whom 
they even exacted tribute. Subsequently they re- 
sisted the rising British power. They were finally 
overcome by the latter under Wellington and other 
leaders. 



A MISSIONARY HERITAGE 139 

Wun District was a part of the dominions of 
the noted Bhonsla Rajah of Nagpur, who was de- 
feated by the British at the battle of Argaon (120 
miles northwest of Yeotmal), in the year 1804. The 
forces of the latter were abont one-tenth of the size 
of the former, and the engagement was the last of 
a series which established British prestige in India. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A MISSIONARY HERITAGE — CONTINUED. 

The Hinduism of the district, like that of Berar 
generally is mixed with ancient local superstitions, 
worship of saints, demons, etc. The four chief 
Hindu festivals are Maha Shivaratri, Holi, Dasara 
and Dewali. The first is in honor of the lingham 
at Shiva's temples. The second is the worst of 
all, being an obscene saturnalia in which a female 
demon, with cursing and abuse, is burned in effigy at 
a bonfire. All respectable women endeavor to keep 
out of sight during this festival. On the following 
day men and boys lay off from work, and many 
spend their time in singing foul songs along the 
streets, giving filthy abuse in sport to those they 
meet and squirting dirty water and coloring matter 
upon the garments of their neighbors. 

An effort is made to gather the material for the 
bonfire the evening before, by theft. It is thought 
to be no sin that night. We once had our mission 
gate thus carried off, broken up and thrown into 
the fire. Many educated natives are ashamed of 
this demoralizing festival, but on account of its 
popularity they dare not speak out. Hindu phi- 
losophy makes otherwise brave men abject cowards. 
Hence there is little hope for any great rerorms ex- 

140 



A MISSIONARY HERITAGE 141 

cept through the gracious influence of true Chris- 
tianity. 

The Dasara festival is held in honor of Durga 
or Devi who killed Mahashasur, and the Dewali in 
honor of Lakshmi, wife of the Vishnu and goddess 
of wealth. At Wun there is a fair annually held 
in March, in honor of the fourth incarnation of 
Vishnu, who was also a demon-slayer like Durga. 

I shall write of some of the more prominent 
classes with whom we have to deal, three years res- 
idence in this district having given an opportunity 
to study them. I am indebted somewhat to the 
Government Census reports for some particulars. 

The bulk of the Hindus belong to the agricul- 
tural classes of whom the Kunbees are the chief 
representatives. They are Sudras according to 
the ancient classification, but are now reckoned 
near the medium in the social grading of this part 
of India. Men of this class are usually dressed in 
the native jacket and loin-cloth, with a large red 
turban on the head and coarse, red leather shoes 
which leave the wearer's heels exposed. The women 
commonly wear a red or blue cotton "lugarde" or 
native dress, and the scanty jacket. The children 
are largely allowed to run about unclothed. The 
females are laded down with the usual number of 
cheap bracelets, gewgaws and trinkets. 

This caste is very superstitious, strongly at- 
tached to custom and hate innovations. With them, 
the corn must be sowed, plowed, harvested, threshed 
and winnowed out in the old-fashioned, conserv- 
ative way. In these matters, as in all other busi- 



142 ECHOES FROM' BHARATKHAND 

ness affairs, and in social customs, the usual cere- 
monies must be performed, the stars and omens 
noted, the priests consulted and the gods appeased. 

They worship the usual divinities common to 
Hinduism, including those of recent origin such 
as Khandoba, Bairoba and Vithoba. The great 
shrine of the latter is at Pandarpur, 300 miles south 
of here, and is visited by hundreds of people of the 
Kunbee caste annually, near the commencement of 
the rains. Until about thirty years ago women 
used to swing by iron hooks fastened in their flesh, 
after first naming their petitions to the priest of 
Khandoba. In his honor, men often drew heavy 
carts by hooks fastened into their bodies. 

At the periodical fairs at temples and shrines, 
also at the tombs of Mohammedan saints, the Kun- 
bees gather in immense numbers. Then all work 
is stopped, however important, and these farmers 
and their families rush off, utilizing every kind of 
conveyance available, to pay their respects to some 
hideous idol or piece of stone. At the tomb of Haz- 
rat Shah in Nimar District and at those of other 
Mohammedan saints, in former years I have seen 
many people of this, and other Hindu castes, doing 
homage to these Non-Hindu divinities. 

It is well known that the Mohammedans some- 
times lean on and consult Hindu astrologers for 
lucky days. The Kunbees believe that on the fifth 
day after the birth of a child, the goddess Durga 
writes its fate upon its forehead (most Hindus be- 
lieve that Brahma does it). On the twelfth day the 
child receives two names: one after the star under 



A MISSIONARY HERITAGE 143 

which it was born, and the other a familiar name 
by which it is to be called. 

Boys are married from the age of five to fifteen, 
and girls from five to ten. In most Hindu castes 
it is considered a disgrace for a girl above the age 
of twelve to be unmarried. It devolves upon tne 
girl's father to hunt up a husband for her, andi 
when one is found, a large sum of money must be 
paid to his father. At the marriage ceremony the 
boy and girl are covered with powdered turmeric, 
after which they perform their ablutions and wor- 
ship the gods. In the evening the Brahmin priests 
hold up a sheet between them, repeat the sacred man- 
tras, and at the time fixed, millet is thrown on the 
bride and groom and on all present. Then the 
sheet is let down and they are pronounced married. 
After this they have native music, such as tom-toms, 
tambourines, horns, etc., and the guests are feasted 
for four days by the bride's parents. , 

The Kunbees either burn or bury their dead. 
The former method is considered more respectable. 
The male heirs of the deceased are considered un- 
clean for ten days, so they shave themselves and per- 
form certain ablutions. On the twelfth day after 
the disposal of the dead, funeral ceremonies are 
performed by the priest. On the thirteenth a feast 
is given, when the heirs are ceremonially clean. 

What is said of the Kunbees, is largely true of 
the other agricultural Hindus of the district. The 
Mahars are low caste Hindus. They are sometimes 
reckoned as outcasts. They have, however, a few 
caste rules which they adhere to. Of this class 



144 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

there are about 50,000 in the district, but it is from 
the Mahars that the majority of the converts in 
the various missions of the Mahratta country have 
come. There are a few families in nearly every 
village. They are the village servants for menial 
work, and are employed to do errands, carry coolie 
loads and perform all sorts of drudgery which the 
ordinary caste Hindus will not do. 

They eat all kinds of meat like Europeans, but 
have the reputation also of eating the flesh of cattle 
which have died of themselves. One of their duties 
is to remove dead cattle which most Hindus would 
not even touch. They retain the skin for wages, 
but being so often in a half starved condition, the 
charge against them is well founded. In fact I 
have myself sometimes come across groups of men 
of this caste after dark, working over a carcass like 
vultures to get out the "tidbits." 

The Mahars kill and bury the buffalo sacrificed 
at the Dasara festival. It is done to avert any evil 
which might otherwise happen to the village dur- 
ing the coming year. There are serious feuds some- 
times between Mahars and Kunbees on account of 
the death of cattle, the cause of which is often laid 
justly or unjustly, to the former. 

The Mahar, however, is an indispensable and use- 
ful servant, is the village watchman, and often acts 
as a sort of an assistant to help the head-man in 
gathering the taxes. He usually carries the books 
for the latter, and if the head-man is a Brahmin, 
he does not hand the books to the Mahar, but tosses 
them to him or throws them on the ground for the 



A MISSIONARY HERITAGE 145 

latter to pick up. For their pay, the Mahars receive 
a small measure of grain from each cultivator. 
Among their perquisites are the sweepings of the 
threshing floor, the musty grain at the bottom of 
grain-pits, and the clothes taken off dead people 
before they are burned on the funeral pyres. 

All classes are very superstitious and shy of 
ghosts, demons, etc. It is thought that the ghost 
of a high caste youth, who, though invested with 
the sacred thread, died before his marriage, will 
sometimes cause the death of children one after 
another in the neighborhood, which are named after 
him. So a terrified father will call his next son a 
"blockhead" or a "dungheap" in the hope of appeas- 
ing the angry spirit. But the Mahars still practise 
ancient devil worship (whether so much in this dis- 
trict as in others, I can not say) all over trie 
Mahratta country. The following extract in illus- 
tration, is taken from Dr. Murray Mitchell's late 
work on Hinduism: 

"At midnight a wild chant arose outside the 
old fort (where I was in camp), funereal in its tone. 
One voice sang a few words; and then a multitude 
joined in the chorus. Then came an invocation ut- 
tered by a body of Mahars marching in solemn pro- 
cession into the fort, and inviting the spirits to 
come and receive the offerings. These consisted of 
pieces of flesh — probably that of a kid — the blood 
of which had been caught in a dish when the head 
was struck off. There were also bread and intoxi- 
cating liquor, in short, plenty of the food generally 
used by the Mahars themselves, along with sugar, 



146 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

salt, spices, opium and tobacco — all borne on brass 
or copper vessels, and guarded by men carrying 
naked swords and flaming torches. The entrails of 
the animal victims were wound round the necks of 
those who led the way. Then arose a most wild 
and unearthly cry — an invocation to the demons. 

"The following words were shouted aloud, first, 
in solo, then in chorus. 'Take some liver!' 'Eat 
some bread V 'Taste the blood !' and as each article 
was mentioned, a portion of it was taken from the 
dish and flung forward — certain, as the people 
thought, to be pursued and caught by the crowd 
of hungry spirits that were eagerly looking on. 
After every two or three sentences the whole mul- 
titude joined in one loud shout, 'Be propitious!'" 

Mission work to the Mahars in the Mahratta 
country south of Berar, has been largely and ef- 
fectively carried on by means of primary village 
schools among them. Parents have gradually been 
drawn in, instructed and baptized into the Chris- 
tian faith. Even nominal Christianity has affected 
a great change in them and lifted them up in the in- 
tellectual scale far above their high-caste neighbors. 
Some have become eminent in character and devo- 
tion. 

Among the other tribes whose caste rules are 
not over strict, may be mentioned the Gipseys and 
the Gonds. The Banjaras who number 26,000 are 
ranged under the former class. Their caste occu- 
pation formerly was to carry grain, salt, etc., on 
pack bullocks and buffaloes. Nearly all of those of 
this district engage in agriculture. They are a rude 



A MISSIONARY HERITAGE 147 

people, but sociable and hospitable, even inviting 
us into their houses. 

The men largely wear a full beard and are 
known by their rough brogue and heavy shoes. The 
women are readily recognized by their patched, un- 
couth garments which nevertheless cover the entire 
body except the feet. They have peculiar head orna- 
ments which elevate their veils, and are frequently 
seen with arms loaded nearly to the shoulders with 
heavy rings of brass, pewter, ivory, lac and tin. 
They also wear anklets as heavy as shackles. 

The Banjaras attribute sickness generally to the 
foul play of witches. If the latter are discovered 
they have to suffer. 

The Gonds, although considerably Hinduized, 
are a remnant of the large aboriginal race that 
once occupied the whole country. They are a shade 
darker than the Hindus, have rounder heads and 
more scanty beards. They number 55,000 in this 
district and are mostly cultivators. Many are en- 
gaged as wood-choppers and gatherers of jungle 
produce. In times of distress they subsist largely 
on mhowa flowers, roots and wild fruits. 

Their original gods are still worshiped to some 
extent. Rude shrines are erected in the forest con- 
sisting of heaps of stones daubed red, near which 
is an earthen image of a war-horse. Over all is a 
low thatched roof, too low to stand erect in. 

They have a legend that there was once a sage 
among them by the name of Lingo who was their 
special friend. He was killed by his enemies, so 
the story goes, but on being sprinkled with am- 



148 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

brosia by a bird, came to life again. Afterwards 
he delivered the Gonds from bondage. 

As a race, they like other aboriginal tribes are 
more truthful than the Hindus, but are much given 
to drinking country liquor (see my "Sketch of the 
Korkus"). They have a language of their own into 
which the Gospels have been translated, and many 
of this race have become Christians in the Eastern 
part of the Central Provinces. Several of the or- 
phan children which I baptized in that region were 
Gonds, but speak the Hindi language. In this dis- 
trict, they in common with most other castes speak 
colloquial Marathi. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CENSUS OF THE OLD WUN DISTRICT. 

The following table gives the census of the old 
Wun District, Central Province, India, for 1901: 



oil 

® efl 



P 

AH 







SJJ4 


M 




_ o 




rt o 


"3 "3 


II 


WH 



H>Q 



Area— Square Miles 

Towns (having pop. over 5000) 

Villages 

Occupied houses. 

Population— Male 

" —Female 

" —Totals.. 

Density per square mile 

Average population of villages 

Market towns 

Government schools 

Indigenous " 

Post Offices 

Annual Fairs 

Hospitals and dispensaries 

Miles of government roads 

Travelers' Bungalows 

Marathi speaking 

Hindi (dialects) speaking 

Gondi speaking 

Telugu " 

Other tongues speaking 

Hindu Religion — No. professing. . . 
Jain " " 

Mohammedan Religion — No. prof. 
Other Oriental 

Aboriginal cults— " 
Christian religion— " , 
Hliterate males 

*• females 

" totals 

Literate males 

" females 

totals 

" in English 

Deaf mutes 

Blind 



908.31 

1 

293 

26118 

62871 

61160 

124031 

136.6 

423.2 

17 

22 

12 

7 



1 

55 

3 

87331 

19958 

15125 

1110 

656 



627 

6022 

12 



199 

58171 

60931 

119102 

4700 

229 

4929 

345 

69 

165 



Lepers 



1061.55 


1079.80 


860.18 


2 





1 


327 


310 


275 


33120 


20470 


16537 


79348 


51681 


41738 


77331 


51976 


40824 


156679 


103657 


82562 


147.7 


95.9 


96.0 


479.0 


330.0 


300.2 


11 


20 


15 


27 


17 


10 


14 


1 


1 


11 


4 


2 


1 




1 
1 


3 


2 


43 


30 


12 


2 


3 


2 


116651 


68054 


59869 


29990 


8511 


6631 


6674 


24748 


8948 


2770 


12094 


7032 


560 


247 


70 


137367 


71446 


64654 


777 


265 


146 


10345 


3168 


2430 


19 


62 


2 


8169 


28714 


15328 


2 


2 


2 


74851 


49400 


39895 


77275 


51919 


40774 


152126 


101319 


80669 


4497 


2281 


1843 


56 


57 


50 


4553 


2338 


1893 


78 


67 


148 


59 


29 


41 


311 


Ul 


85 


12 


2 


6 


110 


34 


26 



3909.84 

4 

1205 

96545 



231291 



Av. 119.4 

■ 386.0 

63 

76 

28 

24 

2 

7 

140 

10 

321905 

65090 

55495 

2J006 

1433 



1815 

21965 

95 

74750 

205 

222317 



453216 
13321 
392 
13713 
628 
198 
672 



149 



150 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 






1* 


Sid 

a o 


nS 




® (S 


Sg 


OH 


WH 



.gcfe 
op a 



Brahmins— males 

** —females 

Mahars 

Mangs 

Ohambars 

Married females under 5 years 

" " 5 to 10 yrs. of age... 

■• 10 to 15 

Widows under 5 years 

" 5 to 10 yrs. of age 

" 10tol5 

15to20 

" total all ages 

" " under 20 yrs. of age... 

Gov't, liquor and toddy shops 

" opium and ganja " 



1351 


1134 


655 


668 


869 


784 


484 


558 


13865 


20565 


7085 


4849 


1322 


3440 


406 


183 


721 


1249 


309 


534 


112 


215 


151 


187 


1078 


254 


1372 


1878 


8812 


5434 


3574 


3319 


5 


10 


6 


8 


43 


113 


62 


110 


175 


304 


195 


190 


190 


264 


168 


133 


11314 


14791 


9025 


6669 


413 


691 


431 


441 


156 


130 


125 


92 


30 


45 


31 


22 



5351 

2813 

665 

6868 

16139 

29 

328 

864 

755 

41799 

1947 

503 

128 



Number castes in old Wun District 222, number languages spoken 25, de- 
graded classes number gypsies 10254, number dancing girls 146, beggars — men- 
dicants 2870, religious mendicants, monks, etc. 1070, total beggars 3940. Popula- 
tion of towns: Yeotmal 10545, Darwah 5168, Digris 6034, Wun 6109. Government 
revenue for Yeotmal District for year 1906 as follows: From county liquor, 
opium and intoxicating hemp, $360,000; from land tax, $340,000; from govern- 
ment forests, $60,000; from income tax, $12,000. 



REMARKS ON THE CENSUS. 



We trust our friends who read these pages will 
not skip the above schedule. It is not a dry, hum- 
drum inventory of dead figures and inert stuff, to 
be jumped over in search of something more inter- 
esting. It is an engaging story in itself with mat- 
ter for reflection, for missionaries, for missionary 
"rope-holders," for philanthropists, and all others 
interested in the welfare of humanity not only in 
this small field, but throughout India, for there 
are several hundred similar districts in the Empire. 

Sometimes it happens in the verbal picturing 
of facts, things are overdrawn. This is not the 
case when it is written down "in black and white" 
figures. "Figures won't lie" is one of our most 



CENSUS 151 

axiomatic proverbs. I commend the above array 
to the perusal of those who ought to take a special 
interest in the evangelization and cultivation of 
this field. It bristles with vivid facts and is in 
truth a missionary appeal. Please do not there- 
fore slight these columns, but "read, mark, learn 
and inwardly digest." 

Note especially some numbers which we de- 
sire to emphasize. In the Old Wun District we 
have 466,929 souls, (or about half a million by 
this time) passing into eternity and for the most 
part idolaters without God! (See Kev. 22:15). 
Only 205 of this number were listed as Christians, 
and many of these were doubtless but nominal. 

The missionaries then numbered three, now the 
number has increased to eleven, but the Christian 
population probably remains about as it was. How- 
ever, should all of them be true disciples, and 
should they witness a good confession, "what are 
these among so many?" Notwithstanding, if filled 
with the Spirit there are mighty possibilities ! Will 
not our praying readers help us to get the if out of 
the way? Since the opening up of mission work 
in this field (i. e., district) the Gospel has been 
probably carried to 200 villages; but alas, there 
are 1,000 more which have probably never seen a 
missionary, and whose inhabitants for the most 
part are still bowing down to idols of stocks and 
stones ! 

The census reveals but 13,321 males and 392 fe- 
males able to read or write! What ignorance is 
here! What intellectual darkness! What material 



152 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

for the continuous domination of priestcraft and 
superstition ! 

Consider one great item of social degradation, 
7,533 girls under ten years of age are enumerated 
as married ! Not merely betrothed but married and 
to some it is marriage with all it means. It is true 
we have a law in India fixing the "age of consent," 
at twelve years, but this was enacted in the face 
of the protest of thousands of Hindu men and the 
law is repeatedly violated! This matter is dis- 
cussed more fully in the following chapter. 

Marriage bargains, etc., are expensive, especially 
among the Brahmins. They would rather suffer 
anything than the disgrace of a "cheap marriage." 
It usually falls heavy upon the father of girls. For 
this and other reasons many daughters are unwel- 
come in the home. 

Query — Had this feeling anything to do with 
the fact, that there are far fewer females, than 
males, of that caste, in each of the four taluks? 
In Rajputana at one time we know that this feel- 
ing among the Kshatriyas so thinned out the fe- 
males that the British Government had to interfere ; 
and measures were adopted to check infanticide! 

Of the population of Old Wun District, 41,799 
are enumerated widows, the great majority of 
whom under the ban of Hinduism are doomed to 
perpetual widowhood! It means very largely dis- 
grace, drudgery, starvation, temptation to vice, and 
to some suicide! Of the number are 1,221 widows 
under fifteen years of ag§. These girls, not to men- 
tion thousands of older ones, are surrounded with 



CENSUS 153 

every inducement to immorality. Large numbers 
of them will in all probability be solicited or im- 
pressed into lives of ill fame! So probable is this, 
if not inevitable, that the common word for widow 
in India has come to be nearly synonymous with 
prostitute! Alas, what social monstrosity! what 
cruelty, what wickedness! This is the practical out- 
come of Hinduism. 

Among the prominent degrading agencies at 
work aside from idolatry, superstition and caste, 
are the 721 liquor, opium and ganja (intoxicating 
hemp) shops in the district. These are the largest 
source of revenue to the government — larger than 
the land revenue. But this is only the sum paid 
by the contractors to the government. Think then 
of the vast sum received by the retailers direct from 
the consumers ! Think of the 146 temple girls ; the 
10,254 Gipseys; the 4,000 professional and religious 
beggars; the 1,100 helpless deaf, blind and those 
who are lepers; the 9,000 outcasts aside from the 
Mahars; the 22,000 followers of the false prophet, 
and say nothing of the other 450,000 non-Christians, 
and you will have something of a comprehension 
of the state and needs of the people in our field and 
the overwhelming burdens of the missionaries. 

There are at present three mission stations 
opened up in the district, namely: Yeotmal, Wun 
and Darwah, where substantial buildings have been 
erected, compounds enclosed and other improve- 
ments made. At Yeotmal, there is a small chapel 
capable of seating 150 persons. Connected with the 
mission are also both boys' and girls' orphanages, 



154 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

with neat and appropriate dormitories, school 
rooms, etc. 

At the boys' orphanage is a workshop well 
equipped with modern tools, lathes, drills and a 
small gas engine. The boys are taught carpentry 
and mechanics. The job-work in wood, together 
with bicycle repairing, partly support the orphan- 
age. Industrial work has also been inaugurated in 
the girls' orphanage, while both boys and girls are 
being well educated in the common branches and 
well instructed in Bible truth. Some of them are 
giving valuable assistance in bazaar and village 
mission work. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 

India's indigenous iconoclasts. 

Many years ago a missionary lady at one of the 
mission stations in Berar, was walking out in the 
fields with some of her native orphans. In their 
ramblings, they happened to discover a rude Hindu 
idol daubed with red paint. Immediately on com- 
ing up to it, one of the little girls of her own ac- 
cord, overturned the divinity and would have done 
more violence to the shrine had not the mission- 
ary interfered. 

Many foreign missionaries are still needed in 
this Empire to guide and direct. They will be 
needed for years to come, but India will eventually 
be conquered by India. Already it is said that more 
than seventy-five per cent of the converts are 
gathered in by native agency. Quite a number of 
these native preachers in the different missions, 
are men of great power and ability. They are men 
whose hearts God hath touched. 

As has been stated in previous chapters, the 
natives of this land are a clever race — often quick- 
witted. They love to argue and can match logic 
with logic, eloquence with eloquence, figure and 

155 



156 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

trope with figure and trope ; but they cannot match 
love with love (divine love). This mysterious 
weapon is not found in the armory of the natural 
man. Neither is it the product of any earthly 
region. It is born of the skies! 

God has wrought mightily in the hearts of the 
orphan children and pushed out some of this rising 
generation to lift up Christ to their own people. I 
have heard them many times exhorting their hear- 
ers with zeal and fervency. It is probable the ex- 
tensive evangelization of the neglected parts of 
these Provinces depends in no small degree on their 
agency alone. May our praying readers, therefore, 
take these young recruits to God's conquering army 
on their hearts, and kindly remember them and the 
missionaries who have them in training. 



TREES OP INDIA. 

A traveler passing through India for the first 
time by rail, would be impressed with the pretty 
gardens at the stations which break the monotony 
of a journey and charm the tourist. Among the 
trees commonly seen are the neem, the gold mohur 
with flaming red blossoms, the cork, the magnolia, 
the cassia with massive yellow flowers and the siras, 
all but one of which are fragrant when in bloom. 
Besides these, there are often the purple bogan- 
villia vine, the rose, tuberose and jessamines to be 
seen, with any amount of crotons, begonias and 
other foliage plants. These are profusely distrib- 



MISCELLANEOUS 157 

uted in pots along the platforms, or adorn the sta- 
tion gardens. 

India is a land of vegetation. Despite the long 
dry period after the wet season, many of our prin- 
cipal trees put out their leaves and blossoms in 
the hot months with as much vigor and freshness 
as the grass of the parched ground when deluged 
by the first monsoon rains. 

The mango is one of the most noted of our 
Indian trees. In this latitude it is a fine showy 
tree and is clothed with a rich dress of cream- 
colored blossoms in the month of February and is 
both valuable as a fruit and a shade tree. In foli- 
age it bears some resemblance to the chestnut, but 
the perfected fruit is incomparable. Perhaps no 
fruit in the world has improved so much by culti- 
vation as this. The most worthless wild species 
has been likened in taste, to "a bunch of tow 
soaked in turpentine." An "Alphonso" is thought 
by many to be the finest tasting fruit in the world. 
It is oval-shaped, about twice the size of a goose- 
egg, weighs one-half pound and when ripe is a ricn 
green, tinged with crimson on one side. It often 
sells in Bombay for a rupee apiece. Dr. Watt de- 
scribes the taste as "a subtle blending of all agree- 
able flavors," and I am inclined to that view my- 
self. Yet the tree of this species of mango, by virtue 
of its horticultural training has become somewhat 
distorted and ungraceful. This bears a curious 
parallel to the statement I recently read in the farm 
column of an American paper, "A good milch cow 



158 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

is rarely a handsome animal, her business pro- 
hibits." 

Fully half of the plants mentioned in Scripture 
are commonly found in India. The almug is 
thought to be the sandal-wood of the East. It is 
fragrant and is held sacred by the Hindus who 
use it in idol worship, mark their bodies with the 
sawdust mixed with oil and burn a little on their 
funeral pyres. On one of our former mission 
grounds there were several sandal-wood trees grow- 
ing, also the mulberry, pomegranate and camphire 
of the Bible. On another were the sycamore, palm 
and acacia. 

The first named has its clusters of wild figs 
growing out of its gnarled trunk. ( I have seen them 
quite edible on the higher hills of the Central 
Provinces.) The latter named tree is probably 
the shittim of the Bible of which the ark of the 
Lord was made. It grows spontaneously on all 
our mission grounds in this district and yields when 
full grown, beans for goats and camels, timber for 
carts and bark for dyeing. 

Cocoanut, betelnut, palmyra and date palms are 
found in the Central Provinces but the former two 
are only in a few gardens here and there. The 
first named is abundant about Bombay and the 
adjacent coast. Parts of that city are hidden in 
a forest of these palms which make it rather gloomy 
during the rains, but pleasant for the rest of the 
year. This palm is sometimes eighty feet in height 
and yields an abundance of cocoanuts. 

Large numbers of trees are diverted, however, 



MISCELLANEOUS 159 

from their God intended use (as rye, barley and 
maize in America) and made into liquor. It robs 
thousands of good trees of their fruit, ruins the 
people, but brings in heavy revenue to the Govern- 
ment. Other species of palms are also tapped in 
Central India for this intoxicating beverage. The 
terminal bud at the top of the cocoanut palm is 
called "cocoanut cabbage" and is eaten as a veg- 
etable; but to obtain it, the tree is killed. 

Near one of our mission homes was a lofty 
palmyra which lifted its head in stately grandeur, 
far above the surrounding trees and the clouds of 
dust which enveloped everything near the surface 
during the dry season. It reminded us of the "trees 
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord" and of 
the righteous who "flourish like the palm." More- 
over it was also a refuge for the little bottle birds 
who love to swing their curious nests under its 
branches and enjoy the pure air and sunshine of 
heaven. 

Among the common shade trees of Central 
India, are the peepul, the margosa, whose foliage 
resembles the American black-walnut, and the ban- 
yan. The latter has a magnificent shade. One spec- 
imen of this tree in Gujerat is said to be large 
enough to shelter an army of 7,000 men. The peepul 
is held very sacred both by Hindus and Buddhists. 
A devout Hindu would no more break down one 
of these trees than kill a cow. Its leaves resemble 
the poplar or cotton-wood of the West. An im- 
mense peepul tree in Ceylon under which it is be- 
lieved Gautama sat 200 B. C. was thought by Sir 



160 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

James Tennant in 1859 to be the oldest tree in the 
world. 

Much of the wealth of this land is in its forests. 
The Government Reserves alone are equal in area 
to Ohio and Indiana combined. Of all the products 
of the forest, the bamboo is the most indispensable. 
It sometimes reaches six inches in diameter and 
forty feet in height, yet it is a grass and would 
scarcely be distinguished from other grasses if 
grown in colder climes. The seed resembles rice, 
which, however, it only bears once in twenty or 
thirty years. 

The providential seeding of the bamboos has 
several times saved thousands of people from 
famine. The stalk is utilized in over a hundred 
ways in India alone including the construction of 
houses, tents, bridges, boats, masts, tacklings, im- 
plements, carts, furniture, baskets, pails, and mat- 
ting. Occasionally small white crystals of pure 
silica are found in the interior of bamboos which 
sometimes sells for its weight in silver, as it is highly 
prized as a medicine. What causes this secretion 
of silica in the stalk remained a mystery for years. 
At last the discovery was made that only bamboos 
which had been bored by a small insect, produced 
the silica. 

We have likewise a parallel to this curious fact 
in the animal world, viz. : Only oysters which 
have oeen wounded produce pearls (Amer. Cyclo. 
Vol. 13, p. 71). I am indebted to Dr. Watt's "Eco- 
nomic Products of India" for some of the above 
information. 



MISCELLANEOUS 161 

TIGERS AND OTHER DANGEROUS GAME. 

An average of 23,000 people are said to be de- 
stroyed annually in British India by wild animals 
and venomous serpents. It seems strange that so 
large a number should be periodically carried out 
of the world by such unusual agencies. But con- 
sidering the multitude of ravenous beasts and 
dangerous reptiles which infest the land in some 
parts, as well as the general defenceless condition 
of the rural classes, the wonder is rather that so 
few are killed. 

Few of the missionary districts in Central India 
where we have labored have been entirely free from 
the ravages of the tiger and other formidable 
beasts of prey. Bears which ordinarily flee from 
man are often quite bold and savage in this dis- 
trict during the rains. I had formerly seen one or 
two natives in other parts, horribly mutilated — the 
work of bears. Within ten miles of Darwah no 
less than five natives were beset by bears during 
last September, two of whom died from the effects 
of the wounds. 

About one month ago a native shikaree (hunter) 
shot a large panther some three or four miles from 
our mission house and presented me with the head 
of the beast. This species of the cat tribe is fre- 
quently quite as dangerous as the tiger, and when 
wounded, is said to be more so. Some time ago 
in the district South of this a man-eating panther 
became a great scourge and actually killed sixty- 
three persons in the space of three years. 



162 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

Speaking of the comparative traits of wild 
beasts, the author of "Picturesque India" says, 
"The tiger is a coward before man and will fly from 
human pursuers so long as there is any chance of 
safety in flight. When marching in the forest one 
first hears the deep roar of the tiger, an instinctive 
fear arises. But in reality all is safe, and he 
will not come near. He would never attack a man 
unless he were a man-eater, and if he were, then 
no roar or sound would issue from him. He would 
steal up noiselessly like death and the grave. The 
spring of the tiger is that of blind fury and despair 
directed at the nearest object without any thought. 

The panther has cunning thought in his spring, 
and he means vengeance on his assailant. Two 
sportsmen might be perched upon big branches of 
trees by moonlight watching a panther come to 
drink. Both may fire and hit. Instantly the 
panther will climb up one tree with amazing quick- 
ness and punish the sportsman. He will then with 
equal velocity ascend the other tree and deal with 
the man up there. Lives of men have been lost in 
some such way as this." 

The foregoing statement about the tiger was 
verified by Miss F. of Balaghat Mission, Central 
Provinces, who related to us some of her traveling 
experience in that district in the year 1901. 

One evening another lady and herself were 
journeying in a bullock cart to one of their out- 
stations. They had proceeded quietly on the way 
some distance beyond a village, when reaching a 
piece of woods near a stream, they surprised a tiger 



MISCELLANEOUS 163 

lying in ambush. The animal roared furiously and 
might readily have pounced upon them had he been 
so disposed. Miss F.'s companion, the cartman and 
the bullocks were all greatly agitated; but she, re- 
taining her presence of mind, quieted them down 
and caused the cart to be reversed. All of them 
returned to the village in safety. 

While we were living in Ellichpur on two oc- 
casions to my knowledge, our missionary friends 
were confronted by tigers in daylight on the Saut- 
pura Hills. In both instances, however, the ani- 
mals being some distance ahead and not over- 
alarmed walked quietly away without showing vio- 
lence. 

On the other hand there are not wanting in- 
stances when tigers have seized bullocks yoked to 
carts traveling along the road. A case of this kind 
recorded in the annals of the Korku Mission hap- 
pened in the Melghat forest recently. A native 
man and woman were driving through that region 
in an open cart when a tiger coming out, fell upon 
one of their bullocks and commenced to drag him 
off. The driver then foolishly struck at the tiger 
with his whip, whereupon the latter leaving his 
prey, seized and carried off the man to his lair. 
The woman and the bullocks escaped. 

The greatest number of deaths from wounded 
tigers, etc., among European hunters are the result 
of recklessness. Capt. Whistler, whose memorial 
tablet is on the wall of the English church in El- 
lichpur, was killed by a wounded tiger he followed 
up, which had taken refuge in an old ruin. Another 



164 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

officer of the same station, while we lived there, 
was attacked in the forest by a wounded tiger, to 
whom he had given a fatal shot from a slightly ele- 
vated bank. The infuriated beast made for the 
officer and seized him by the boots, while the latter 
was climbing up backwards. Just then the native 
shikaree, who accompanied him, and had climbed 
up a low tree close by, jumped to the ground and 
ran. The tiger immediately left the officer and 
followed the shikaree. Shortly afterwards both the 
native and the tiger were found dead in the grass. 
In the vicinity of Khairagarh where we labored 
in 1900, there were many wolves which sometimes 
attacked children. Since we left that station, one 
of our native Christians saw a child killed by 
wolves near the mission compound. But there is 
scarcely any end to these animal stories. 

WOMEN IN INDIA. 

Mrs. Murray Mitchell in her Missionary Jot- 
tings has aptly said, "The daughters of India are 
unwelcomed at birth, untaught in childhood, en- 
slaved when married, accursed as widows, and un- 
lamented when they die." This is a logical and 
caustic charge against Hinduism and to a large ex- 
tent against Mohammedanism too, but not far, I 
fear, from the truth. Woman's debased condition 
in all heathen lands is most apparent, but when her 
degradation receives the sanction of religion, her 
state is sad indeed! 

Manu's Shaster says, "Woman being weak and 



MISCELLANEOUS 165 

ignorant of the Vedic texts, is foul as falsehood," 
yet the supposed advantages and blessings of re- 
ligion for the most part are denied her both in this 
world and for the world to come. Notwithstanding 
all this she is often very devout and makes the 
most of her little bit of "religious privilege." 

Indeed the women of India, on the average, are 
quite as religious as the men and even more. For 
illustrations of this fact, I refer my readers to the 
lives of such women as Chundra Lela, Kamabai 
and Sooboonagam. While visiting the sacred places 
of Benares last year in company with Bishop Sel- 
lew, we were shown a good sized temple which was 
built by a poor Hindu woman, who it as said, earned 
the money to build it by grinding flour in a hand 
mill. 

But an unjust ban is upon her character, both 
by canonical authority and by popular consent, and 
only the lever of Christian truth and civilization 
is lifting it off. There is a proverb in North India 
that "A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more 
you beat them the better they be," and this is well 
acted upon. Many years ago when we were dom- 
iciled in one of the native houses of Burhanpur, our 
souls were stirred on hearing the screams of a 
woman one day across the street. She had com- 
mitted some slight offense and was being brutally 
pounded by her husband. We sent over our native 
helper to try to stop it, but he soon returned say- 
ing, "There were two sides to the quarrel and noth- 
ing could be done as that was the way all Hindu 
women were treated." 



166 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

This indignity to the female sex is shown in 
their being universally addressed in the singular 
number instead of the polite plural. In our Mara- 
thi language the feeling is also most curiously re- 
vealed in the classification of some words; for ex- 
ample: opium, country liquor, intoxicating hemp, 
tobacco, pitch, garlic, ginger, mischief, sorcery, 
porcupine, fox, crocodile, rat, leech, centipede, 
louse and flea are all put in the feminine gender 
although none of these words have a distinctive 
feminine ending. 

In Hindustani the word "katla" (literally "bag- 
gage") is very commonly used for wife. Comment- 
ing on this, a writer on language in the Bombay 
Guardian says: "I meet a man on horseback while 
his wife follows on foot with a load on her head — 
a common sight. I ask him who is behind. He in- 
differently replies, "That is my katla" (my luggage 
in general). How very clearly the daily life of 
that pair, husband and wife, is portrayed in the 
single word "katla." Of course we cannot deny 
that our Indian sisters have some of the character- 
istics not unknown to her sex in other lands. To 
illustrate: there is a common proverb in Marathi, 
"There's no getting on without a female neighbor 
and there's no agreeing with her when she does 
come." But then her weaknesses are greatly exag- 
gerated. 

A Brahmin priest was spoken to by a missionary 
on the subject of female education. He shook his 
head dubiously and said, "Can you teach a cow?" 
The missionary replied, "No, but we did not come to 



MISCELLANEOUS 167 

teach cows." "Very well," said the Brahmin, "if 
you cannot teach an intelligent animal like a cow, 
how are you going to teach a woman ?" In harmony 
with this sentiment we find 99 per cent of the fe- 
males in India wholly illiterate! 

The subject of child marriage has been men- 
tioned in this book. By the government statute 
when we first came to India, "the age of consent" 
at which a man could take his child wife and live 
with her was fixed at ten years. Frightful cases 
of diabolical outrage too awful to describe came to 
light. The matter was agitated by the missionaries 
and an attempt made to raise the age of consent to 
fifteen years. This made a tremendous stir among 
the Hindu men. Mass meetings were held to pro- 
test against the reform. Threats were made and 
there was some excitement for a time. At length 
the legislature, after much hesitation, passed an 
act raising the age to twelve years. But even this 
was only extorted, so to speak, at the point of the 
bayonet of dreadful facts furnished by lady medical 
missionaries. 

The treatment of widows in India and the for- 
mer practise of suttee burning is well known. Sut- 
tee monuments may be still seen at Wun and other 
places in this district. What tales of suffering, tor- 
ture and woe would they doubtless tell us, could 
they speak ! Alas ! perhaps many cases of enforced 
immolation, as well as voluntary too! 

The following is one of the stories which have 
come down to us — true or false — given us by the 
old inhabitants of Kinne : Once upon a time a cer- 



168 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

tain damsel of the shepherd caste, was given in 
marriage to a youth of Kinne. On arriving at the 
proper age, her father brought her in the rains to 
the village of the bridegroom. They were, however, 
prevented from reaching it by a swiftly flowing 
river in flood, so they called for assistance. The 
bridegroom by chance being on the opposite side 
of the stream heard their call and although not 
knowing at the time who they were, assisted them 
over at the risk of his life. For this act of dis- 
interested heroism, the bride pledged to burn on 
his funeral pyre. She fulfilled her promise so they 
say, but it is also said that she did it at the in- 
stigation of her mother-in-law. 

The village of Kinne is about two miles from 
our present mission bungalow. To commemorate 
the above event there is a time worn slab standing 
under a tamarind tree. It resembles a large grave 
stone and on it is rudely carved a female form, 
a man on horseback, two persons carrying a child 
and a funeral pyre, but no writing of any kind. 
The slab is daubed with red and is sometimes wor- 
shipped by the village people. 

A MEMENTO OF MARY LOUISA RANP 

Happening to be in Calcutta for a few days in 
the year 1898, I improved the opportunity for a 
brief visit to the graves of those pioneers, Carey, 
Marshman and Ward as well as the identical pa- 
goda mentioned in Sargent's Life of Martyn 
(chapter five). The latter stands near the west 




2 H 
Z 

q - 

- £ 

I 3 



MISCELLANEOUS 169 

bank of the Hoogly and is now partly in ruins. This 
was the "Peniel" of that devoted missionary, his 
"Valley of Baca," his "Gethsemane," and I confess 
my soul was stirred as I entered this old temple, 
for it seemed a most sacred spot. 

Henry Martyn, like Egede, Gilmour, Livingstone 
and Bowen, was one of those well-known mission- 
aries who was not permitted to see many converts 
as the fruit of his labor, nevertheless the savor and 
sanctity of whose life left a lasting impression upon 
the heathen. 

Of such was also our beloved co-worker, Louisa 
Ranf. It is just seventeen years from the date of 
the writing of this book since she went to her ever- 
lasting reward. That terrible fire at the English 
church in Ellichpur which caused her death, seems 
but a dream of yesterday. 

There are missionaries and missionaries. And 
there are various means by which they influence 
others. Some by superior education, some by logic, 
some by eloquence, some by miraculous testimony, 
some by a commanding personality. Miss Ranf was 
not one of these, but she was & missionary of char- 
acter. She was one of the most unselfish persons 
I ever knew. She was compassionate. She was 
humble. But above all she had that perfect love 
which casteth out fear. The secret of her life and 
character was habitual fellowship with her risen 
Lord; and she was most emphatically a woman of 
prayer. 

Some time before she died, her Marathi teacher, 
Jaya Ram, wrote a short poem in that language, 



170 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

beautifully inscribed it on carbon paper and handed 
it to her. It was in praise of Christ and should 
have appeared in her excellent Memoirs by Mrs. 
Freeland. Jaya Ram was a man of high caste and 
had been much influenced by her life and conversa- 
tion. He was in fact, a sort of a Nicodemus. There 
are many such in India and their spontaneous con- 
fessions, while in their native bondage and depres- 
sion, should not be despised. 

A Hindu lady once said to a faithful zenana 
missionary, "We are like birds in a cage but you 
have taught us to sing." Several of the most pop- 
ular of our vernacular hymns in North India are 
said to have been composed by a non-Christian. The 
following is a free translation of the Marathi poem 
above referred to: 

"Blind from his birth, there was a man, 

Great Master, did'st thou not his sight restore? 
So touch mine eyes, O Lord, help me to scan 
Thy love; and I will praise thy mighty power. 

"Thee comforted thy disciples on the sea, 

And stilled the wind and waves when storm arose. 
Still thou, O Lord, the tempest that's in me, 
And give, indeed, my troubled heart repose. 

"Once traveling on the highway, thou did'st cheer 

A mother sad, whose son in death was cold. 
With pity, Lord thee caused the lad to hear 
And live again in mother's arms to fold. 

"Thou wentest down upon the waves dry shod, 
To save thy followers and to calm their fears, 
But let thy feet be deluged now, O Lord, 
With Jaya Ram, the author's grateful tears." 



MISCELLANEOUS 171 

AN APPEAL. 

Christians of America! One-fifth of the human 
race are crowded into British India. Its inhab- 
itants outnumber those of the United States four 
to one. They are dark-skinned Caucasian brothers 
of the Orient, bowed down under their burdens and 
sighing for relief; but sighing, alas, in vain! Con- 
sider the deplorable conditions of these dying mil- 
lions, their vain hopes, their intense need! Consider 
the 200 million in this Land of the Veda deluded 
and enslaved by superstition, caste and priestcraft! 
Consider the sixty million dupes of the False 
Prophet; the fifty million outcasts ; the forty million 
who live on the verge of starvation even in prosper- 
ous times; the thirty-eight million females secluded 
in the zenanas; the twenty-seven million widows 
whose state is unspeakably sad ; the nineteen million 
girls of school age only 400,000 of whom are en- 
rolled! Consider the six million wives under four- 
teen years of age, nearly half of whom are under 
ten! Consider the one-half million lepers whose 
lot from a human standpoint is sad beyond ex- 
pression! Alas, these are but a few outlines of 
the dark picture which confronts the missionaries 
on the field ! Think of these teeming millions drift- 
ing to eternity without God! Eight hundred every 
hour, thirteen every minute, one every five seconds! 

What then are we doing for India's redemption? 
Despite the fact that mission work has been going 
on for three centuries in the empire, scarcely one 
per cent of the population are even nominal Chris- 



172 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

tians, and alas, how few of these can be called true 
disciples under a liberal interpretation of the term ! 
But shall we falter and be discouraged because of 
these facts? Having put our hands to the plow 
shall we look back? Having advanced on the enemy 
shall we retreat? Shall we give up the fight? 
Never, Never, Never. Some one may ask, "Are there 
not serious obstacles to the capture of India for 
Christ which justify delay?" I answer there are 
obstacles, but none which justify delay. The worst 
obstacle is the unbelief of the church. 

Christians of America, to what extent do you 
share in this charge? There are some devoted 
saints among you who pray out the missionaries 
and the money to send them to the heathen and then 
hold them up by their prayers and means on the 
field. But are you who read these lines among that 
number ? "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." Are your hearts stirred 
on reading this mandate of Jesus? Will you ba 
faithful to your obligation to carry the Gospel to 
these perishing heathen? Will you go or send? 
If you do the latter, will you uphold the forces 
while they carry on the war or stand at their posts? 
Just now, there are several natural reasons why we 
should hasten India's redemption. British protec- 
tion, railroads, post-offices, schools and the present 
friendliness of the village people generally, demand 
putting forth special efforts at this time. But 
above and beyond all these considerations, is the 
last great command given above. Will you not 



MISCELLANEOUS 173 

take it anew to heart on reading these lines, and 
pray, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" 

INDIA. 

Mystic, mystic India. 
Land of shade and mystery; 
Land of oriental sea ; 
Land of curious history; 

Quaint India! 

Subtle, somber India. 
Land of Brahmin, sage and priest; 
Land of "wisdom from the East ;" 
Land of harsh and rigid caste; 

Strange India! 

Gloomy, gruesome India. 
Land of superstitious charms : 
Land of Juggernat's alarms; 
Land of bloody crafts and forms; 

Cruel India! 

Conquered, cowered India. 
Land of British war and strife; 
Land of gold for human life; 
Land where cruelty is rife; 

Broken India! 

Starving, sinking India. 
Land where plague and death are found; 
Land where griefs and sighs abound; 
Land of tear and mournful sound; 

Mourning India! 

Purchased, precious India. 
Land of missions from afar; 
Land where saints for sinners care; 
Land for earnest faith and prayer; 

Beloved India! 



174 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND 

Stricken, smitten India. 
Land for which the Savior bled; 
Land to welcome heavenly bread ; 
Land where Christian hearts must aid, 

Hungry India! 

Pleading, praying India. 
Land where souls turn to the light; 
Land soon freed from error's n«M; 
Land soon filled with heaven's own light, 
Saved India! 

(N. B. G. in Missionary Tidings.) 



MAP OF 
CENTRAL PROVINCES INDIA 



Pop. about 17,000,000 

Capital Nagpur 
520 miles from Bombay 







East fr< 




Names of places underscored 
are mission stations occupied 
by Ernest and Phebe Ward 
since coming to India 



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